Canon Australia’s Support of Drought for Farmer Friday

Widespread, drought-riddled Australia is now home to countless struggling farmers. From hand feeding stock to having to completely abandon farms and move, the situation for many is becoming more and more dire. R U Aware We Care is an initiative started by the Salvation Army, Tamworth Regional Council and 88.9PM with support from Wests Entertainment, The Tamworth Business Chamber and NSW Farmers Association.

R U Aware We Care is designed to raise awareness as well as goods/ monies for farming families in need and Farmer Friday was created as an event for this drought appeal for a fun way for everyone to get involved. Wearing a flannelette or checked shirt to work or school on a Friday in exchange for a donation. Making it fun and inclusive helps raise awareness, lift spirits and collect donations in a positive and encouraging way. Canon Australia wanted to jump on board with assisting the farmers in need and decided to have all their employees and associated stores take part in Farmer Friday and have a BBQ lunch to help raise as much in donations as possible.

It’s important for our farmers to know how much we all care about their current situation and events like Farmer Friday help us to show our support. Canon Australia understands the need to assist our farming families during this period of extreme drought. So, last Friday August 24 they had all of their business partners and associated retailers across Australia embrace Farmer Friday and they promised to match every dollar raised in donations. This is a huge promise and is set to be divided between R U Aware We Care and the Buy a Bale appeal.

In preparation for this event, a clip was created to build Internal awareness for metro areas who might not know about R U Aware We Care, Farmer Friday, or even the severity of the drought situation to make them more aware of the dire situation a lot of Australia is currently facing. The video included Amanda Young (pictured below), Deon Kasper and Peter Ryan who each explained the current struggles facing the modern day Australian farmer. This video also featured Cr Col Murray to discuss the reality of the drought and how heavy the impact already is and will continue to be. The video clip was launched early last week and has been used internally and in emails to really attempt to increase awareness to encourage more people to donate last week during their Farmer Friday event.

DigiKat was able to play a role in Canon’s efforts by filming and creating the video clip for Canon and Inland Technology about their part to play in the drought appeal. DigiKat was excited and honored to get to be a part of Inland Technology and Canon Australia‘s efforts in the R U Aware We Care and be able to create this Farmer Friday video to help highlight the efforts being made by Canon and Inland Technology to help all of the farmers currently in need of help. Helping areas of Australia who may not be exposed to the real impact the drought is having first hand builds awareness and increases the opportunity for more assistance and aid to be collected or delivered.

You can watch the clip here.

Assisting our farmers is critical for everyone across Australia as they are the providers of so many goods and services nationwide and even worldwide. DigiKat joined Inland Technology last Friday to play their part in the Farmer Friday initiative under Canon Australia as we also recognise the critical importance of assisting farming families during this devastating drought.