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Over the period of 11 to 15 December 2019, members of the Rotary Club of Liverpool West, with partners and guests (20 in total) embarked on a visit to the towns of Narromine and Trangie in the central west of NSW to support the local communities suffering from the effects of the long lingering drought that has had a devastated the farming and business economies in the area.
In conjunction with the Rotary Club of Narromine, arrangements were made to visit schools in both towns where library books, Christmas Stockings for Kindergarten to Year 6 students and donations were made to each School's Financial Support Funds to be.jpg)
used to assist Children in need with Uniforms, School Excursions etc. In all, four schools and two pre-schools were visited by Rotarians distributing "goodies and providing some Christmas Cheer. One Primary School has finished for the year and we did not visit the High School - arrangements were made for gifts and donations to be received before we arrived.
The Schools we visited were - Narromine Primary School, St Augustine’s Primary School Narromine, Narromine Pre-School, Trangie Central School ,St John’s Catholic Primary School Trangie and Trangie Pre-School.
The two schools who received items prior to the visit were - Narromine High School and Narromine Christian School.
At St John’s Catholic Primary School in Trangie, the team witnessed a “Bust the Dust” rain dance performed by the students during a community event to lift the spirits and hopefully attract some very much needed downpours.Our Club provided the food for the BBQ after the dance for around 350 people and funded other BBQ's conducted by Schools in relation to the Drought/
With the assistance and support of the local Rotary Club in Narromine and Country Womens Association, a community sausage sizzle was arranged and took place in Tom Perry Park, Narromine where a statue of Glenn McGrath stands proud honouring a local hero who still has interests in the area.
Around 500 locals attended this event - we only expected 300.
To experience and witness the effect the drought is having on the community, both farming and business, the Rotarians were invited to undertake a tour of two farming properties outside of the towns.
Pinegrove – around 3500 acres, about 40 kms from Narromine where a “clearing sale” (auction) took place on Saturday 14 Dec. The items on sale included farming tools and machinery and took place in an empty paddock which became a dust bowl with the slightest puff of wind.
Waterloo – about 18,000 acres, 35 kms SW of Narromine and is a producer of cotton, however, has diversified and produces other grains as well as hay.
This farm has a well-established bore water irrigation canal system and is able to produce some cotton, however, fields and paddocks have been ploughed in preparation for rain and are non-producing at this time. This farm also breeds and raises sheep.
Both farms are struggling with the effects of the drought.
Drought Assistance Vouchers - Our Club has funded $10,000 in of Drought Assistance Vouchers. These will be distributed on our behalf by Narromine Rotary Club and Narromine Branch of the Country Women's Association on the following basis. They are $50 each with a maximum amount of $200 per family and can be used with ant merchant in the Narromine Shire to purchase food, clothing, petrol, tyres and pay for all sorts of needs but cannot be used for tobacco. alcohol or gaming.
In support of our efforts, another group from Sydney also travelled to Narromine and Trangie to provide some hope for the local communities. Known as "Direct Compassion" the team consisting of three mothers and several school aged youngsters representing and supported by the Vietnamese Communities in Australia conducted several fundraising activities for the sole purpose of helping those in need affected by the drought.
Basing the team in Trangie at St John's Primary School, a shopping spree was conducted in Trangie, Narromine and Dubbo to purchase non-perishable grocery items which were transformed into more than 300 Christmas hampers, which together with donated adult and children's clothing, were distributed throughout the area providing much needed support and some Christmas cheer to local families.
Direct financial support was also given to farmers who have been struggling to make ends meet".
The weekend ended with a Christmas dinner with members of the Rotary Club of Narromine in attendance.
The following article appeared in the Narromine News
Since we have returned a number of PC and laptops have been received - these will be provided to Trangie Central School in the New Year, they will be brought to Liverpool from Newcastle then forwarded to Trangie early in 2020.
We think that our efforts were successful and the many families are having a better Christmas and New Year as a result. It was a great effort by our Club, but it could not have been achieved with out the support of the members of Narromine Rotary Club.
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As Australia and the rest of the World adapts to changes to minimise the impact of this pandemic the Rotary Club of Liverpool West has had to postpone many of the Projects it was planning and adjust to the new environment. 
Members meetings will for the duration of the restrictions be held fortnightly by Zoom teleconference at 7 pm on every second Tuesday commencing on 21st April 2020.
The Annual Children's Circus has been postponed until the end of May 2021
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19) in support of the local Farmers who have experienced severe drought conditions and are in need of support. The Club is providing financial assistance to those in need with the provision of $50 vouchers, totalling up to $10,000, which can be redeemed at local business establishments. The issue of the vouchers is being co-ordinated on our behalf by Lower Lachlan Community Services.
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Natalia is from West Papua, Indonesia. She is 25 years old and lives with her family near the township of Jayapura. She has lived with the condition known as Neurofibromatosis since the age of two. We understand there was an attempt to kill her when she was very young because of her appearance, and as a result of this attempt, she has been left with a terrible leg deformity.
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