The Wagga region has come together to bring fresh drinking water to the drought-stricken town of Walgett.
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What started with one man’s Facebook post telling his friends and family he would be visiting Walgett to bring some water for his grandmother, has grown into a joint effort of strangers, loved-ones and businesses all pitching in to help.
Wagga man Paul Simpson sparked the movement, and said he initially just wanted to help his family amid the dry conditions.
“I’m originally from Walgett, I moved here in ‘83, and I just heard about the standard of rivers up there and the drought going on which is one of the worst they’ve ever had,” he said.
Mr Simpson said the original plan was on a small scale.
“I was going to take my ute up with a couple of cases of water for my nan and some family, and then one of my best mates Al jumped on board and shared it around and it’s just taken off,” Mr Simpson said.
Allan Mitchell, who is also a Wagga local, said what started as bringing a few mates together to help the Simpson family soon grew to a much larger project.
“I just thought it’d be a couple of cases of water from me and my mates to take around to Paul’s and then I thought, I reckon I can do better than that – so I called around everyone I knew and so many businesses, and it just grew from there,” he said.
“Avis has even donated a van to help transport the water, and so many others are stepping up to the plate.”
Collectively, they have around 400 cases of water, and the number is still on the rise.
“I can’t thank everyone enough,” Mr Simpson said.
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