Newspaper Article 1994 – $60,000 donation to hail appeal

$60,000 donation to hail appeal

A $60,000 grant from the Community Employment Group has pushed the Hastings hail relief appeal past $82,000.

Hail Task Force chairman Jeremy Dwyer today said the government work agency’s grant had been tagged to the work of rural support co-ordinators and toward helping retain horticultural cadets who could lose their jobs.

Mr Dwyer, the Hastings mayor, expects the appeal to gather between $90,000 and $100,000 to help orchardists hit by the March 2 hailstorm.

There have been fears that about 20 of the province’s 58 cadets, most of them under 19, could lose their jobs because of the damage to crops on orchards on which they are working.

Mr Dwyer said he was pleased with the level of support the appeal was receiving and hoped that people and businesses would continue to give it their support.

The Hastings District Council launched the appeal with a donation of $10,000 and the province’s Lions Clubs added $5000 from an emergency fund set up at the time of Cyclone Bola.

Donations to the appeal can be made to the Hastings District Council, Private Bag 9002, or lodged with branches of the National Bank.