Miss McKinnon, formerly of “Killashandra,” Ardlethan, has teamed up with livestock agents and vendors to raise funds for the Kurrajong Early Childhood Intervention Service in Wagga. 

“I have country roots and I want to get involved and raise money for Kurrajong,” she said. 

Vendors have the option of donating a lamb from the sale to the cause.

Or she said they could donate a small portion of the returns from an offering.

Miss McKinnon stressed the fact that vendors didn’t necessarily need to donate the entire returns from a single animal.

She said all donations were welcome and would add up to help the cause. 

Despite the fact the charity effort was called a “sheep drive” there was also an opportunity for vendors to donate funds from sales of cattle too.

“Today we have 45 sheep that have been donated, and we will try and do the same thing again next week,” she said.

The lambs were sold through Riverina Livestock Agents (RLA). 

Miss McKinnon and her friend Carmel Murphy teamed up to meet with vendors at the sheep sale on Thursday.

They were at the Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre letting vendors know about their charitable cause. 

Miss McKinnon, who is a speech pathologist, has committed to enter Wagga Takes Two. The competition will heighten the profile of her charity work.

Before the competition she teams up with professional vocalist Deidre Moulden.

And after a couple of months of training they, along with 11 other pairs, will perform on three consecutive nights. 

Miss McKinnon has elected Kurrajong’s Early Childhood Intervention Service as her charity.

She said the service supports more than 500 infants, pre-school and school age children throughout the Riverina with services based in Wagga, Griffith, Temora and Tumut. 

Miss McKinnon encouraged vendors to visit kurrajongwaratah.org.au/melissa to donate.