What started as an idea of Brent Reeman’s five years ago to take his old LandCruiser for a drive through the bush and raise a few bucks for drought-stricken communities, has now become a full-blown annual fundraising event.
Brent is the founder of the Long Drive for Drought, and has teamed up with Tash Johnston, founder of Farm Angels, for the now annual fundraiser to support Drought Angels.
“I’ve got a pretty strong connection with some regional communities and grew up in the bush,” Brent told The Cobar Weekly when the group passed through Cobar on Monday.
“Back in 2020 the drought had impacted most of Australia for pretty much 10 years.
“I wanted to do something different, but you know a bit more meaningful than just making a donation.”
Brent put the word out to a group of his 40 Series Cruiser enthusiast friends, and 12 of them jumped on board that first year “for a drive through the bush” and they raised $50,000.
“And I thought, this is going to be a one-off thing, but they all still wanted to do it again and here we are,” Brent said.
Now in its 6th year, the event has raised almost $600,000.
Participants pay a fee to enter, enlist their own sponsors, auction off donated goods on the trip or raffle them in their own communities.
Tash, who’s only missed out on one Long Drive in six years, said the event has been growing bigger and bigger each year.
“We pack the swag, join the crew and we actually get to visit some of the farms we’ve helped out over the years,” Tash said.
Tash set up Farm Angels (formerly Drought Angels) in 2014 in response to the prolonged drought in an effort to provide financial assistance, food hampers, care packs and mental wellbeing support to primary producers. The charity now offers primary produces help during all natural disasters.
“It’s nice to meet some farmers who tell their stories of how we’ve help them and they [Long Drive participants] get an understanding of where the funds they’re raising goes to.”
Brent said organising each year is a bit of a logistics challenge but everyone pitches in to help.
“My wife and our are children heavily involved in organising it as well. I try to keep it pretty simple. I get a map out, and I work out where I want to start from and where I want to finish. It’s a different route every year.”
He said the hardest part is finding time to get his vehicle ready for the trip.
“My vehicles are old, one’s 52 years old, and even though it’s well maintained, it’s still old.”
The drive is mostly on back roads and dirt roads and there’s usually a breakdown or two but Brent said there’s always a few bush mechanics among the group who have it covered “with fencing wire and know-how”.
Brent said the Long Drive for Drought participants come from all walks of life, they’re from Victoria, NSW and Queensland and are of varying ages.
“On every drive we have family groups that come, lots of young kids and a lot of teenagers.”
Most nights are spent in swags or pop-up tents, with local communities often feeding the crew—supporting them in return.
