NATHALIA was awash with the colour red last Friday as the community came together to hold its sixth annual ‘Thank You Fireys’ event to honour the incredible job CFA volunteers do, and raise money for much needed equipment.

This year’s event was the biggest ever, as the Thank You Fireys day committee collaborated with communities right across Nathalia district to raise money for Barmah, Picola, Kotupna, Strathmerton and Waaia CFA brigades, as well as Nathalia.

Whilst the hub of thank you fireys day was, as always, the sausage sizzle held in Apex Park from 10am, the tentacles of the event stretched much further.

School students from kindergarteners right through to year 12s got in on the action with ‘colour runs’ held at Nathalia Preschool, Nathalia Primary School and Nathalia Secondary College across Thursday and Friday.

Unlike most colour runs  however, there was only one type of coloured powder being thrown around - red.

Nathalia Secondary College’s colour run was organised by year nine students as part of the ‘Advance’ community service course.

Chris Barnard, one of the teachers of the course, said organising a community event had many benefits for students.

“It helps them develop skills such as planning, team work and communication, but there is much more to it than that,” he said.

“One of the major drives behind Advance is connecting the students with community and having them learn, through doing, that paying it forward has benefits beyond the obvious.

“They’ve done a really good job.”

For a small donation, participants could run the gauntlet of fire hoses and coloured powder whilst contending with a range of obstacles and tasks to complete along the way. 

Year nine student Tianey Curtis said that organising the event was hard work, but worth it.

“There was a lot involved, and it was harder to organise than I thought it would be, but it’s been so much fun and it’s good to be raising money for the community,” she said. 

Thank you fireys day committee member Leanne Pell said Tianey’s comments proved that getting the schools involved in the event had been successful.

“We wanted the young people to get involved, not just to increase the amount of money we raised, but also to help them see the benefits of putting into their community and volunteering their time and energy, because that’s what keeps small communities going,” she said.

Conspicuous by their absence from this year’s Thank You Fireys day were the red balloons that have been synonymous with the event in previous years.

In recognition of the environmental damage they cause, balloons had been replaced with a much more sustainable option - again, with a fund raising angle.

 Technically, the balloons were still there, but they had been covered in paper and glue to create paper mâché art works which are being auctioned to benefit the cause.

 Schools, preschools, community members and local artists have taken on the challenge to decorate balloons, with the results on exhibition at the GRAINstore until this Friday, March 6.

The auction is by a silent bidding process, with money raised from the sale of each art work going to the brigade that has been nominated by the work’s creators. The higher the bid, the higher the donation to a brigade.

Although the final figure of funds raised by thank you fireys 2020 won’t be known until after the auction is complete, funds raised on Friday already exceed $3,000.

Leanne Pell said the committee is ecstatic.

“It’s such a great result - not just for Nathalia, but for the other towns involved as well,” she said.

“All of the brigades in the area help each other out, but some of the smaller towns have a fairly limited fund raising capacity, so it is great to have them work with us and spread the money and help them get some more money out there.”

Nathalia CFA volunteer Scott Admas, who acts as the brigade’s liaison to the Thank You Fireys Day committee told the Leader the brigade was grateful for the efforts of the committee and the support from the community.

“The event is a major fund raiser for us and without it we just wouldn’t be able to raise the funds we need for vital equipment and amenities,” he said.

“The committee does a great job and a lot of local businesses get behind them with sponsorship to put the event on so they can just focus on raising money.

“It just gets bigger and better every year and the whole brigade loves it and loves being part of it. 

“It’s great to see the whole community getting behind us. We had a lot of fun spraying the kids with water at the colour runs this year, and the kids had a ball too.”

Scott said the money from this year’s event will go towards building an amenities block at the fire station. 

Bids on the paper mâché balloons can be made by contacting the GRAINstore, or texting Leanne Pell on 0428 662 387, or Andrea Sutton on 0407 329 255.