The latest example of that came to the fore during an hour of need for the Moama Catholic Parish.
The parish, which takes in the churches of St Aloysius, Moama, and St Brigid’s Mathoura, faces a perennial struggle on the fundraising front.
“We’re a small committee and the finances often don’t stretch too far,” spokesperson Mick Barlow said.
“Most of those finances go to the maintenances of the churches — St Aloysius and St Brigid’s — to keep them in good order.”
But like many, the impact of rising costs is biting hard.
So when they were required to install a ramp at St Brigid’s, an already stretched budget was close to breaking point.
“The maintenance and insurance costs were adding up,” Mr Barlow said.
“We sat down as a committee and discussed what are we going to do on the money side of things.
“I said, I know (Moama Bowling Club chief executive officer) Paul Barnes and that led me on to George.”
“George” is the MBC’s sales and marketing manager George Santos.
“Mick came to me for some advice on what they could do to raise some money,” he said.
“I said I had a few ideas, including a car raffle.”
Mr Santos got straight on the phone and contacted Echuca Mazda dealer principal Garet Stobaus.
The pair struck a deal that resulted in a new Mazda CX-30 wagon, valued at $40,000, being donated by the MBC and Echuca Mazda as the major prize for the raffle.
Mr Barlow and fellow committee member Lin Bowers were given the pleasant surprise when they visited Echuca Mazda last week.
“We’re just blown away by the generosity of the Moama Bowling Club and Echuca Mazda,” Mick said.
“It is in moments like these you realise what a great community we live in, we never thought of a car raffle as a way to raise money.
“You would have to bake a lot of cakes to get the level of fundraising we will get from this result.
“We can’t thank George, the Moama Bowling Club, Garet and Echuca Mazda enough.”
Mr Stobaus said Echuca Mazda was proud to support the parish.
“Post-COVID, fundraising has been very hard, especially for those in smaller communities,” he said.
“It’s great to roll the sleeves up and get involved.”
Mr Barlow said the parish was hoping to raise about $50,000 from raffle proceeds, with tickets likely to be available for purchase in the coming weeks.
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