Ladies of the land from across the Moree shire will soon be receiving a little luxury when boxes of pamper items are distributed to those in need of uplifting.
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The Ladies of the Land initiative was started by Cumnock mother Elzette Connan just over six weeks ago, after she received a box filled with gorgeous yellow items and a hand-written note saying, "sending you a bit a sunshine".
That box was exactly the uplift Mrs Connan needed; her family were feeling the crippling pressure of the drought, having sold 90 per cent of their cattle and 50 per cent of their sheep from their property near Cumnock in the last year.
"I wanted to do something similar to the box I received as it made a huge impact on my life, but I didn't know what to do," Mrs Connan said.
Mrs Connan contacted her friend Tracey Potts who jumped on board straight away and it all "snowballed from there".
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The dynamic pair set up the Ladies of the Land Facebook page calling for people to donate pamper packs consisting of goodies in a shoebox for women living in drought affected areas.
"With just six weeks until Christmas we aimed for 100 boxes, we thought if we get that we will be lucky," she said.
They have since been inundated with support; in a few weeks the Facebook page grew to more than 19,000 likes and the campaign has collected more than 16,000 care packages. These will be distributed to women across the state before Christmas, with help from the Country Women's Association who are building a list of recipients to help get the parcels to where they are needed the most.
Closer to home, North West Local Land Services jumped on board the campaign, with the Moree office offering to be a drop-off point.
Over about three weeks, the office collected about 30 boxes filled with pamper items such as lip balm, shampoo and conditioner, edible treats, motivational cards, crossword puzzles and notebooks. Woolworths Moree donated 10 boxes filled with goodies including chocolates, tea, coffee, mugs and more.
"When you think that this town is doing it as difficult as it is, for people to go out of their way and think of someone else, it's really special," Moree LLS's Jean Botfield said.
"Some boxes are from a lady and her friends who grew up around Gravesend and saw it on Facebook."
The boxes collected by Moree LLS office will stay locally, to be distributed by the CWA.
