Amazon Australia teams up with Drought Angels to deliver smiles to 500 farming families in time for Mother’s Day

Cassandra Mclaren and her husband Peter moved to the family farm in Merriwa 30 years ago with nothing but a few possessions. They worked hard to make ends meet, Cassandra found a part time job in the neighbouring town in childcare, paying $30 a day, and Peter became a farm hand. They built up their cattle farm one head at a time and before long their hard work had paid off with more than 120 head of cattle. Three years later Cassandra had her first child, Jessica, and went on to have three more beautiful children, Victoria, Patrick and Emma.

In 2017 the impact of the drought started to take hold. Slowly but surely the water started running low and the family had to start selling off their cattle, about 15 head at a time.

“One day, in mid 2018, a truck turned up to pick up the remaining cattle, many more than 15 this time. It was just too tough to feed them and the family. Something had to give. Emma, my youngest, pointed to the truck and said ‘Mummy, how many are they taking this time?’ I crouched down to look her in the eye, ‘all of them honey, I’m sorry’. With that she burst into tears, it was really tough.” said Cassandra.

Cassandra, feeling desperate for support, posted about the families struggle on her Facebook Page. Before long it had gone viral with hundreds of people in the same position commenting and sharing her heartfelt words. Cassandra realised she was not alone and that people on the land needed a way to connect with their community so she started a Facebook page called ‘One Day Closer to Rain.” The page now has more than 54,000 members and serves as a platform for people in regional communities to support one other.

A few months later Cassandra realised that a lot of people were posting about feeling powerless and wanting to be able to help themselves rather than rely on charity, so (15 months later)she started a separate group for farmers to sell their own handmade products- she named it ‘Rural Cottage Craft.’ Within 24 hours the page had more than 5000 members and farmers were literally selling out of their crafts.

“Without knowing it, Cassandra had tapped into a huge unspoken need in the farming community, the need for hope and empowerment. Being able to make a small income from selling handmade crafts online has enabled many families to put food on the table, buy hay for their animals and Christmas presents for their kids without having to apply for assistance” Said Natasha Johnston, founder of Drought Angels.

In addition to working on the farm (and part time at a local school) , running ‘Rural Cottage Crafts’ and caring for her children, Cassandra volunteers at the Rural Fire Service and non-profit, Need for Feed, supplying stock and animal feed to those in need.

“Volunteering with the RFS and Need for Feed has been amazing. It gives you a real sense of perspective, of what’s important and what’s not. We’ve had a hard few years but we will recover and life will continue. You just do what you have to do.” Cassandra

The partnership with Drought Angels is part of Amazon Australia’s ongoing commitment to supporting local communities. Using Amazon’s unique capabilities, along with cash donations, we are proud to support our community partners to provide ‘Right Now Needs’ to Aussies across the nation, especially during and after natural disasters. Last year we worked with Drought Angels to deliver more than 2,500 hampers packed full of essentials and treats to farming families doing it tough. Learn more here.

Blog reposted from Amazon Australia.