Up in the northwest of Victoria, the community of Dimboola is recovering from a bushfire that saw thousands of hectares reduced to ash. It’s a team effort, and on that team are the Dimboola Lions.
The club has been around for 50 years, says club minute secretary La Vergne Lehmann, and has service at its heart. In recent years, the club’s fundraising has been based around recycling. They run a hub where all the cardboard in the shire is bundled and prepared to be sold on, as well as bags from a local grain company. When Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme was preparing for launch in 2023, the club were keen to get involved.
“We decided we would put in to have a reverse vending machine at our site, and it turned out none of the other businesses in town were keen or able to,” La Vergne says.
“We’re centrally located, so people are able to drop off their containers easily. We make a bit of money out of that and our goal is to put it back into the community.”
Combined with funds from the Lions’ other efforts (think community breakfasts and barbecues) the club was keen to make sure their money went as far as possible.
“We wanted to make sure that the money made an impact in the town,” La Vergne explains. “The first thing we did was set up a community grants program worth $12,000. People just needed to come up with a good idea that we felt was worth funding.”
With money going to the local RSL sub-branch to buy an upright vacuum, and to the football netball club to go towards their own recycling systems, it was all about the community.
“And then we had the bushfire in January,” La Vergne says. “We’re a small town, the closest centre is Horsham, and we do get quite a few day trippers. But that all slowed down after the fire.”
With evacuation orders and national park closures to contend with, local businesses were struggling.
“Our small traders, the gift shops and vintage shops, they were doing it pretty tough. So we thought, how can we help them and also the local people?”
The club came up with Dimboola Dollars. These vouchers could be purchased from the Lions at half their face value, and then spent locally.
“So if you’d seen a nice dress and it was $100, now you’re able to buy it for $50,” La Vergne says. “We wanted people to use them on something extra, something nice.”
An initial $5000 run sold out almost immediately, so the club upped it to $7000. That sold out too.
“So that will generate at least $14,000 worth of business. The traders are all thrilled.”
It’s all part of the Lions’ ethos of service and community, supported by Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme. As well as running the RVM, the club do collect containers themselves, and take empties from the caravan park.
“We make around $18-20,000 a year through the scheme, and our remit is to give back to our community,” La Vergne says.
Want to get involved?
- Find your nearest refund point
- Read more about Lions Australia
- Learn about fundraising with CDS Vic
