Recovery grant just in time for annual pony event

The club’s biggest annual event of the year was in danger after the not-for-profit organisation fell victim to the widespread flooding in February. 

Essential equipment was damaged, fences broken and the septic system needed some serious repairs. The committee was able to use a $10,000 Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority-administered Disaster Recovery Grant to help pay some of the clean-up and recovery costs. 

Cloncurry Pony Club president Haylee Scanlan said the grant secured the 2019 annual event. 

She said biggest event of the year was held in April, an opportunity for the community to get involved with the club and give local children an opportunity to brush up on their skills. 

“While some of the repair work is not finished yet, we would not have been able to have the event without the funding,” Mrs Scanlan said. 

“We have been able to pay to have seven new instructors trained for the events which we desperately needed. We could not have kept going without them and they cost money. We have been able to pool our resources into things we really needed.” 

Mrs Scanlan said the Cloncurry community was still recovering, physically and emotionally, from the effects of the flooding. Despite this many local businesses got behind the annual event and contributed donations to ensure the children had a great day.  

Mrs Scanlan said the event was an opportunity for the community to return to some normality during the on-going recovery process.  

“We were so looking forward to the event because there are still so many people impacted so we hoped to bring some happiness to a still ongoing disaster,” she said.  

“I think initially with everything that was going on in the community I hadn’t given much thought to the pony club. It was a shock when we finally surveyed the damage,” she said. 

Mrs Scanlan said the club was able to replace the damaged septic system with a more environmentally friendly and sustainable grey water system. 

“We couldn’t have done that if we didn’t have the funds,” she said. 

“It has honestly been brilliant.” 

Mrs Scanlan said the committee hired a local plumber to fix the septic system and encouraged other flood-affected not-for-profits to do the same to help give the local economy a vital boost. 

“A local plumber did the work because we knew local businesses were impacted as well. We wanted work to continue for them. When graziers are hurt, there are flow on affects in the community,” she said.  

“It’s definitely worth it to make the initial phone call and get the application in. It will help in the big picture because not only will it help your organisation or club but also help local tradies and businesses. There are still plenty of battle wounds but you can help someone else with the grant money too.” 

Mrs Scanlan said the grant application process was easy to follow and help was available. 

“We put an application into QRIDA and we were paid $10,000 within about two and a half weeks. The information required was really minimal. The best part was we provided a quote for repairs and QRIDA provided the money to us. It would have made it really tough otherwise.

“I contacted QRIDA and was stepped through the process. The lady was really helpful and told me that QRIDA were committed to getting our clubs functioning again to help the recovery of the community.  

“I didn’t count my chickens initially but it was a huge relief when we got the grant and it was such an easy process, one less thing to worry about.”  

QRIDA offers a range of disaster recovery assistance. To see what’s currently available visit Disaster Recovery for non-profit organisations..

QRIDA administers financial assistance to disaster affected primary producers, businesses and non-profit organisations under the joint Commonwealth / Queensland Government funded Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements 2018.