WA growers donate record amount to charities

St John WA has welcomed a $70,000 donation from the CBH Group and Western Australian growers, who have shared a record $520,000 with local charities through grain voluntarily forfeited in the 2022/23 harvest.

Funds generated from the sale of forfeited grain through the Harvest Mass Management Scheme (HMMS) has been distributed among nine charities that support grain growers and their communities in WA.

The HMMS, developed by CBH and Main Roads WA, aims to reduce the occurrence of overloaded grain trucks during harvest.

Growers have the option to forfeit grain from overloaded trucks, which is then sold, and the proceeds are donated to WA charities nominated by growers and CBH employees.

CBH Chair Simon Stead said the donations will provide valuable support to the selected charities, allowing them to continue their important work in helping grain growers and their communities in WA.

“It’s wonderful to see that since the scheme’s inception, more than $2.6 million has been donated to a range of charitable organisations who do important work to support regional communities,” he said.

St John WA Major Partnerships Specialist, Angel Robins, said with the organisation covering the largest area of any single ambulance service in the world, partnerships were essential to bridge the healthcare gaps in our regional communities.

“We know that every minute a patient is in cardiac arrest, not receiving CPR or AED shock will reduce their chances of survival by 10 per cent,” she said.

“We don’t want to leave survival to chances.

“By having accessible AEDs in the community, we know we will help to strengthen our Community First Responder network and create a resilient community.

“We are honoured that CBH and the farmers understand the importance of this and have generously given to this cause.”

To date, CBH has helped St John WA install 134 AEDs across the WA grain growing region and this donation will help add another 36 AEDs to the community.