Enough grocery vouchers to feed a small regiment were given over to the Salvation Army on Friday when the charity GIVIT visited Griffith.
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Scott Barrett is the NSW drought relief manager of GIVIT and met with the Salvo's rural chaplain Jon Belmonte on Banna Avenue to drop off his deck of card vouchers.
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"GIVIT is an online system where-by rather than us dictating what we need, local charities we work with will put up a request for something and then we will buy that wherever possible in the local community," Mr Barrett said.
"Rather than bringing stuff over from Sydney or Dubbo we will buy stuff in the community so it helps out the local economy as well."
Mr Belmont said he is impressed by the way GIVIT assists with both charity and giving back to the community.
"There has been a strong history in the Riverina of not only the Salvation Army but other charities working with GIVIT," Mr Belmonte said.
According to Mr Barrett the Salvos are one of over 100 charities that have signed up with GIVIT.
"We do lots of vouchers because I don't know what people need and so we let people choose the things they need in order to get through (crisis)."
"Part of what I do is try to connect with as many charities as I can across the state.
"Those charities are the people with the local knowledge and connections we rely on to be in touch with the people who need help, then we get them the things they need.”
GIVIT started up in Queensland in 2008 and was integral in recovery efforts for the state's the 2011 and 2013 flooding crises stemming from tropical cyclones leading to rainfall which burst the banks of the Fitzroy and Burnett Rivers.
In 2013 GIVIT officially partnered with the Queensland government to assist with their flooding recovery programs and similarly in 2018 the charity partnered with the NSW government to assist with drought-relief.
Mr Barrett said the charity's normal operations usually focus around providing for victims of domestic violence or homelessness.
Anyone interested in donating to GIVIT's drought-relief work should givit.worldsecuresystems.com/donate-funds.
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