THERE was a bit of a song and dance out at Binya Hall on Friday night as locals gathered together to raise money for the Country Education Foundation.
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240 people attended the ‘Curry and Jam’ fundraiser raising a ‘fair bit of money’ that would go towards providing essential financial assistance and support to young people in the area pursuing post high school education.
One organiser Robert Gilbert said there was a very simple formula behind the success of the event.
“Everyone loves Indian food and Toni and his family did a great job donating their time to help provide some excellent food,” he said.
“Everyone loves good music and we had some great local musicians who also donated their time.”
“The music was excellent, the food was excellent, the venue of the Binya Hall was excellent and the combination of the three created a great atmosphere.”
Chair of the Griffith Country Education Fund Craig O’Keefe said the night was an important opportunity for Griffith to support rural youth who can’t afford higher education.
“One of the catch phrases of the fund is ‘what if the cure for cancer is locked in the mind of a student who can’t afford access to education?’,” he said.
“It’s so important that our community gets behind these young people and hopefully they bring their skills and training back here one day, which can only benefit our local community.
“We support vocational training, it doesn’t have to be university, anyone under age of 25 we try to support.”
Mr O’Keefe said he was impressed by the support shown on the night.
“We were very much overwhelmed by the family who cooked,” he said.
“They could see that it was a benefit to the local community, all of those guys gave up a days farm work to get behind the cause and support it.”
“Unfortunately in the past we have struggled to make a big difference helping students, but we would just love to be able to raise enough money to help someone whose economics won’t allow them to take that next education step.
“Hopefully in the future we can raise that sort of money.”
Mr O’Keefe said they had some great sponsors on the night and thanked all of those who got behind the event, particularly major sponsors Yenda Prods and Serafin Ag.
