The Country Women's Association of Victoria is set to distribute further state government funding to drought-affected farmers and communities.
State president Marion Dewar, of the Meeniyan branch, said the CWA would deliver up to $3000 per family, through its Drought Relief Program.
It follows distribution of more than $1 million of privately sourced funding, to drought-affected farmers and businesses throughout the state.
Mrs Dewar said $1.06m had been donated by Coles, supermarket customers, the public and CWA members.
"CWA has always helped anyone in any kind of need," Mrs Dewar said.
"It's a lot better to hand out cash, and give people the dignity to spend that money, as they see fit."
The latest round of funding follows a previous allocation, which also saw grants of $3000 distributed to those affected by the drought.
Mrs Derwar said the CWA had been working with farmers and businesses in the Wellington and East Gippsland shires for many months.
"We often get letters back, or emails, saying 'thank you so much, we had more bills than the $3000 can possibly cover, but it's just the feeling someone else that is caring for us'," she said.
In East Gippsland, CWA of Victoria had held 'drop in and have a cuppa' events in various locations, with one resulting in the reformation of the Orbost Branch.
"These have been coordinated by group president Joanne Alderman who lives on Raymond Island," Mrs Dewar said.
"In North Gippsland, Giffard Branch has held three family social events to boost morale in the community."
Mrs Dewar said the CWA was well aware that the drought would have a lasting impact.
"I was speaking to one woman, who was marking lambs, who said drought would continue to have an impact, even after it rained, for four to five years," she said.
"It will take that long for them to restock and get some income, and that's the case for most farmers in a drought, or any other major situation."
She said the CWA was honored to be one of the organisations entrusted with the distribution of drought relief funding.
In 2018 the Country Women's Association of Australia was designated by Coles and the commonwealth government to distribute funds on their behalf to drought-affected farmers and businesses, through its state and territory associations.
The CWA had completed the distribution of $500,000, provided by the commonwealth government
Dick Smith also donated a large sum of money in 2018 for disaster relief.
CWA in Victoria had chosen to put its share ($150,000) into the Emergency Fund to be used for relief for fires, floods or any other emergency, including drought.
The latest state government funding is part of its $31m support package announced in October, helping farming businesses and families to alleviate some of the immediate burden, while supporting farmers to make investments in the long term.
Drought resilience
Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes said the $12m On-Farm Drought Resilience Grants program would help eligible farm businesses invest in on-farm drought preparedness or business advice, with up to $5000 available per business.
The program provides similar benefits to the government's previous drought support measures, which were taken up by almost 5000 farmers to assist with infrastructure.
The drought resilience and drought relief programs are available to farmers in the Wellington and East Gippsland shires, dryland farmers in the Millewa region and irrigation farmers in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District of northern Victoria.
"We've listened to drought-affected farmers and these grants reflect their need for both immediate relief and long-term investment," Ms Symes said.
"On-farm drought resilience grants have been incredibly popular elements of our drought support, and we want to make sure everyone who is eligible can access the grants."
"I encourage any farming family or business doing it tough through dry conditions to get in touch with Agriculture Victoria and find out what support is available to them."
Mrs Dewar said the CWA of Australia had made a submission to the commonwealth government for a second amount of funding for drought relief, but it had not yet been granted.
"As well as the current fund raising campaign,Coles has made available a further donation of $1,000,000 to the Association," Mrs Dewar said.
"At a drought committee meeting the allocation to each state and territory was decided and Victoria will distribute $50,000."
Mrs Dewar said those who had already put in an application need not fill out another form.
"We have permission from the state government to attach the new form to the original application and we will complete what is necessary for our acquittal," she said
Processing might take four to six weeks to complete and applicants would be contacted, if additional information was required.