Wyn Trost is on a mission to help eligible farmers apply for drought assistance.
The qualified accountant and registered tax agent has travelled from Helidon, near Toowoomba, to spend the day at AgQuip helping farming families fill in paperwork to apply for government funding.
“I’ve been giving advice on partially filled forms [but] some people have had no idea where to start,” she said.
“Some farmers don’t know how to use a computer or they don’t have the ability to fill [the applications] out online [and] farmers don’t have the time to sit and muddle through all the paperwork.”
The former Tamworth woman has been inundated with calls and emails asking for help.
“I helped one person on the phone… and they told their friends and they said, ‘I wish you were here’, and I said, ‘I can be’,” she said.
Ms Trost still has friends in Tamworth and said she has been travelling to the area throughout the year.
“Every time I’ve come down here, [the drought] has got worse and worse,” she said.
“This is shocking. This is devastation and there’s no other word for it.
“I’ve been through the drought when I’ve been on the land and when you’d had to shoot your own stock, you have no idea what that is like until you’ve had to pull the trigger.”
Ms Trost will be helping out farmers in Bingara on Wednesday and the Western Warehouse in Quirindi from 10am on Thursday.
“I’ll be around for two weeks at least. As long as I’m needed, I’ll stay longer,” she said.
“If some people want to get a group together and ask questions and meet at a cafe or someone’s house, I can do that.”
To contact Wyn Trost, phone 0402 611 009 or email wynsome99@hotmail.com
