As you may already know we have now collected donations from all over Queensland and beyond for the equine victims of the recent Victorian Bushfires. The human death toll is now well over 200 and still expected to rise, and the animal death toll has been estimated at over a million. People we have spoken to that have been to the affected areas have related stories that make the media reports pale into insignificance. The breadth and depth of destruction is unbelievable.

 

All our collected donations have now been shipped to Project Hope Horse Welfare in Victoria. We chose to deal with Project Hope because they are a well-experienced organisation who will make sure that ALL donations and assistance gets to the right people.

The following are among the hundreds of horse owners and supporters that have helped out with this worthy cause. To them and everyone else that has assisted we say a heartfelt thank you on behalf of the affected horses and owners in the bushfire areas.

• SCT Logistics in QLD who have kindly transported many truckloads of donated feed and equipment to Melbourne
  
• Phil & Kelly Maas of Maroon who donated hay as well as getting other growers in the area on board
• Equilibrium Supplements who donated a pallet load of vit/min supplements
• Andrew Fraser from Pisces of Maroon who donated 700 bales of hay
• Bremmer Stockfeeds who donated 1 tonne of mixed feed
• Albert Snarne and David Potter of Laidley who donated 450 bales of hay
• Value Plus who donated bandages and other first aid supplies
• Jane Stevens from Rockhampton who has coordinated the appeal effort in that area including radio and newspaper coverage
• Rod North Transport (Rockhampton) who transported all donated items from the Rockhampton drop off point to Brisbane
• Alphapharm at Carole Park who donated a truck load (literally) of buckets and 200 litre drums suitable for water and feed
  
• P&N Beverages of Goodna who donated 150 steel 200 litre drums with lids suitable for food storage
• Lisa and her customers from the Beaudesert Petshop who have collectively donated a large van load of feed and equipment
• Goodna Produce who have donated 100kg of pelleted feed
• Residents of Tamborine who collectively donated a horse float full of feed and equipment (thanks also to Gail for arranging this)
• Toni from Jimboomba who collected a horse float load of feed and equipment from her neighbours
  
• All those kind people who have donated cash to allow us to purchase more feed - we have so far purchased 100 bags of lucerne chaff (at a substantial discount) from a Darling Downs grower.
  

 

All cash donations received by us have been used to buy feed at discounted prices through local feed merchants. Not one cent was directed anywhere but towards the purchase of feed. All adminstration and incidental costs have been borne by NoBit Bridles. Because of this and because Project Hope is run by volunteers, 100% of donations have already been or will soon be delivered to those who need them - the bushfire victims.

 

Donations for this phase of the appeal closed on Sunday 22nd February 2009. We would like to thank the following stores who kindly acted as drop-off points during the appeal.

Beaudesert

Petshop

Beaudesert Fair

Cnr Anna & William Streets

Ph: 0404 873 545

 

Beenleigh

Beenleigh Farm Supplies

101 Logan River Road

Ph: 07 3287 2796

 

Brookfield

Brookfield Produce

612 Brookfield Road (cnr Upper Brookfield Road)

Ph: 07 3374 1648

 

Browns Plains

Shire Saddlery

123 Browns Plains Road

Ph: 07 3800 6748

 

Carrara

Central Produce

8 Elysium Street

Ph: 07 5530 2077

 

Caboolture

Animal Warehouse & Petbarn

Shop 1, 13 Aerodrome Road (next to the Holden yard)

Ph: 07 5499 0511

 

Mudgeeraba

Mudgeeraba Stock Feed & Saddlery

124 Railway Street

 

Nerang

Nerang Produce

12 Hildon Court

Ph: 07 5596 1722

 

Oxenford

Valley Stockfeed

1/141 Old Pacific Highway

Ph: 07 5573 1273

 

Rockhampton

Rocky Feed & Seed

Shop 2, 111 Gladstone Road

Ph: 07 4922 7307

 

   

While Project Hope now have more than enough horse equipment to meet current needs, if you are in South East Queensland and have spare horse equipment such as bridles, saddles, rugs, halters, etc. in good condition which you would like to donate, the following two drop off points are still operating. Please DO NOT drop off baled hay to these locations due to DPI regulations.

 

Aitkens Saddlery:
Unit 6 / 1 Bryants Rd
Loganholme
P: 07 3209 7506

 

Edwards Saddleworld Toowoomba:
152 Taylor St
Toowoomba
P: 07 4633 1480

 

Both theses stores have also offered 15% discount on all purchases made in store and left in store for donation to the appeal.

 

In the Victoria area:

If you are in Victoria and would like to donate horse goods, Project Hope has arranged for some convenient drop off points. Please refer to their release for further information:

http://www.phhwv.org.au/docs/PHHWV%20Press%20Release%209%20February%202009%20-%2 0Victorian%20Bushfires%20Donations%20for%20Horses.pdf

 

Need more information?

Please feel free to contact us directly on 0414 320 974 or by email help@nobitbridles.com

Project Hope Horse Welfare Vic can be contacted via their website www.phhwv.org.au

 

What have NoBit Bridles done so far?

On Wednesday 18th February we loaded 2 B-Double road freighters with 19 tonnes of grassy and lucerne hay small square bales and 55 large round bales of grassy hay. The following Friday these trucks were unloaded by a team of volunteers at the Project Hope depot in Victoria. This massive collective donation is courtesy of the small community of Maroon, which is half way between Boonah and Rathdowney in South East Queensland. These donations represent a substantial percentage of these farmers' hay production.

 

NoBit Bridles would again like to thank SCT Logistics for generously donating the trucks and drivers. Having now had first-hand dealings with the company and its drivers, we can honestly say they are a great bunch of people to deal with.

 

Another truck load of lucerne hay was picked up from Laidley (halfway between Brisbane and Toowoomba) by SCT Logistics on Thursday 26th February.

 

A further B-Double of oaten hay has been donated by a farmer near Glen Innes in northern NSW and will be picked up by SCT Logistics shortly.  

 

A host of smaller donations of feed and equipment from the collection points (see above) have now being picked up, sorted, repacked and shipped to Victoria via NQX Freight System Australia.

  

19 tonnes of square bales were loaded at Maroon...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loading 450 bales of lucerne at Laidley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the donations colected by NoBit Bridles being packed onto pallets at NQX in Brisbane