By Tyler Wright
Kallista-The Patch Fire Brigade will be holding a stall with goods for visitors to purchase, giving the community in Kallista and surrounding towns will be able to help their local volunteer fire brigade before Mother’s Day this year.
Local produce, jam, chutney and plants including pots of pansies and cyclamens will be available for sale on Saturday 13 May from 9am until 1pm outside the Kallista General Store.
“We as a brigade are struggling financially and as a consequence we are looking at ‘what can we do to make it work?’,” firefighter Leo van Alphen said.
“We’ve got to go all the way to Sherbrooke, towards Emerald and we’ve got a Kallista in the middle… we have got that big stretch and we rely solely on our local volunteers to support us.
“We came up with one idea..’what about putting a stall in front of the general grocery store?”
The first market, held in March, was a “tremendous success” according to Mr van Alphen, with $700 raised for the brigade.
“We have in the last year put money towards new lighting for our emergency accident response,” he said.
“Now we have got battery operated units…it makes it safer for us, and makes it a lot less demanding on the people who have to start it.”
Mr van Alphen said the next step will be to extend the brigade’s building on Kallista-Emerald Road, to create a separate space for members’ overalls and operational gear.
“Our overalls and all our gear’s in the engine bay, the trucks are fairly old, all 25 years plus, and the diesel fumes get sprayed into the overalls.”
Mr van Alphen said the recent closure of the Kallista Community House – which in previous years ran a popular village market – has made it difficult to build a relationship with the community.
“It was fantastic for us to talk to the people, especially prior to the fire season and get brochures out,” he said.
“People that came into the area would ask us ‘what do we have to do to make our house safe?’
“We have a service where we go to the new residents and talk about taking wood away from your house, or cutting back the overhanging branches over your house.”
A raffle for a hamper valued at approximately $300 – made up of items donated from local businesses – will be drawn at 12.30pm on the day of the market stall.
Raffle tickets are available from The Patch Store and the Kallista General Store.
The Kallista General Store is located on Monbulk Road.
