Centrelink Rural Services Officer Lisa Harrison was working with the Drought Bus team at the event and said many locals visited the bus to access Centrelink services.

“The day provided a great opportunity for the Nyngan community to make contact with the variety of support services represented at the event,” Lisa said.

“We had many enquiries at the Drought Bus throughout the day, covering all aspects of Centrelink services from drought assistance support to Commonwealth Seniors Health Cards, as well as Medicare enquiries.”

The day was a huge success with about 100 locals attending to chat with the many service providers participating. The event was sponsored by the NSW DPI and was supported by Centrelink, NSW Farmers, TAFE NSW, Community Health, Bogan Shire Council, GWHS Rural Mental Health, Central West Rural Financial Counselling Service, Salvation Army and guest speaker John Harper.

The event came to fruition after a Rural Service Support network was developed in early May. The group worked together to create the fun, family day out. They are planning to build upon this momentum to continue to work closely with the Nyngan community and district into the future.

“It was a great day weather-wise and we were impressed with the size of the crowd despite hearing stories that many of the region’s farmers are very busy planting their crops,” Lisa said.

“Special guest speaker, John Harper, provided a very inspirational speech, reminding listeners that help and support is never far away. We’d really like to extend our thanks to the organisations who supported the event, and in particular to the local community who attended.

“I’d also like to encourage those who were unable to attend the event to contact me at any time to further discuss the range of support and assistance available through Centrelink.

I regularly visit the Nyngan community as does our Financial Information Services Officer Liz Egan.”

For further information, or to make an appointment with Lisa people can contact the Drought Assistance Hotline on 13 2316.