Farmers are looking for help to complete the Mungery Hall pergola after a $30,000 promised donation fell through.
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Mungery Farmer Richard Tinks said he was left "dumbfounded" after a Sydney-based business retracted a drought-donation promised to help renovate the Mungery Hall.
Late last year the business approached Mr Tinks to make a direct contribution to his farm after reading a media article about how the drought was affecting his family.
However after discussions, it was agreed a donation of almost $30,000 would be given to the community of Mungery to replace the pergola on the community hall.
"The [pergola] there was about seven foot high, and you used to cook in the summer time and freeze in the winter time," Mr Tinks said.
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After it was approved the community came together to kick-start the project hosting a working bee to take down the existing pergola. A new concrete floor was installed and donated by local contractors who wanted to help keep the costs of the project low.
However a last minute change saw the Sydney-based company donate the $30,000 to the Rural Assistance Authority instead.
"We were dumbfounded, because we had a working bee and pulled the old pergola down, and then we were left with no pergola," Mr Tinks said.
After discussions with his friend working in Melbourne, former Dubbo boy Stuart Gray, the pair decided to start a GoFundMe page to raise the money to finish the renovations.
He said that the new structural pergola they had quoted would cost $38,000.
Mr Tinks said while Mungery was a resilient community, they were suffering through the worst drought that anyone had seen, and the hall had played a key role in keeping the community together during these times.
"When you talk to all the old guys who are 80 or 90-years-old, they've never seen anything this bad before, so it's a pretty good reflection on how bad it actually is," he said.
Mr Tinks said that renovating the hall would be beneficial for future generations of the community, long after the drought ends.
"All that's donated, while it's great, nothing lasts, I mean if you get a bale of hay it's eaten in about 20 minutes," he said.
"We just thought that this drought, if it could bring one good thing it could be a new bit of the hall, which will be there for generations to come, long after drought."
So far about $2000 has been raised, but Mr Tinks said they were looking for more help. He said there's no minimum donation, even $5 would help.
To donate visit: gofundme.com