Hilltops Locals Offer Eugowra Beer, Barbecue And A Yarn

IMAGE: The team from Binalong and Harden take beer, barbecue and a yarn along with them to Eugowra to help the locals clean up and offer a little relief.

A couple of Binalong boys decided they wanted to do something for the folks over in Eugowra.

Ben Spencer said his brother, Michael had put the call out to say they were heading over to Eugowra for the weekend to help with the cleanup and to see who might like to go along to help out as well.

“He rounded up 7 of us,” Ben said.

“We also put the call out for donations and it took a massive positive turn from there.”

They were inundated with offerings of cash and physical items for the residents of Eugowra.

After arriving in Eugowra on Friday, the team unloaded everything before heading out with an esky on the back of the Ute.

“That was one of the main ideas we had to take people’s minds off everything,” Ben said.

“We drove around handing out beers and soft drinks to the kids and just having a yarn. They were totally wiped out.”

“Ninety eight per cent of the town went under. That’s 98 per cent of the town without a home. Just that second of not having to think about everything - a drink and a steak sandwich - they were so grateful.”

A crew from Binalong joined them on Saturday to put on a free barbecue courtesy of the Binalong Festival.

The guys bought EFTPOS gift cards with the cash donations and gave out 21 $100 gift cards over the weekend.

Ben said that the first lady they gave a gift card to was a single lady who said she was usually the one giving.

“I told her that now was her time to receive,” Ben said.

“She got a bit teary. We also gave her dog food. She ended up following us around and camping beside us at the showground.”

“They’re all camping at the showground. It’s like tent city.”

Ben said that there was months of work to be done and that the group intends making another trip prior to Christmas.

If you would like to contribute to their next trip to Eugowra, contact Ben or Michael Spencer via Spencers Plumbing on 0434 527 851 or Jeffrey Withers from Harden via his Facebook page.

The team would like to thank everyone who donated cash and goods and contributed to their first trip to Eugowra.

Everything was received with gratefulness.

Eugowra-1