THE Country Women’s Association (CWA) has taken centre stage at AgQuip to launch NSW’s annual Awareness Week campaign.
NSW CWA president Annette Turner and chief executive Danica Leys were in Gunnedah to launch the campaign.
Commonwealth Bank AgQuip has been running since 1973 at Gunnedah, and attracts more than100,000 visitors each year, over the three-day period.
The CWA’s Namoi group has been participating in AgQuip for 31 years, providing their well-known hospitality and culinary delights including jams, pickles, lamingtons, cakes, scones and handicraft.
For CWA Awareness Week this year (starting September 2) the Namoi group, along with the 400 other CWA branches across NSW, has chosen to raise awareness of some of the many challenges faced by families living in rural and regional New South Wales in 2017.
Michelle Eggins, president of the Manilla branch, says the structure of and demands placed on families today has shifted significantly in recent years, and now more than ever families of all shapes and sizes need more support.
This year’s campaign focuses on four key areas – the rights of grandparents as primary carers of their grandchildren; encouraging and assisting rural and regional women in starting their own small business; advocating for greater financial literacy amongst rural and regional women; and building resilience amongst teenage girls in rural and regional NSW.
The group uses AgQuip to launch Awareness Week each year, inviting the local community to come in for a cup of tea and find out about the CWA and the important role the organisation plays in the community.
“We look forward to seeing lots of local community members at AgQuip, and we are excited about this year’s Awareness Week campaign,” she said.
“We will be making available a number of grants to school and tertiary students in the community to help them with the cost of their studies, and funds raised at AgQuip will go towards these grants.”
