By Oliver Lees
Riddells Creek Nursery will help someone regrow their garden, after extreme weather wreaked havoc in the Macedon Ranges earlier this month.
The nursery is accepting nominations for families that sustained significant damage to their home or property to receive a voucher for $1000 to use at the store.
The voucher can be used on anything to help replant trees or garden beds.
Riddells Creek Nursery owner and Mount Macedon resident Geordie Taylor said it was his own experience of the weather event that led to the idea.
“It was a very harrowing night for my family, we’ve got significant damage at home and so many of our friends and neighbours do too,” Mr Taylor said.
“We’ve probably got six months of cleaning up to do. We’ve lost two ancient poplar trees that were 30-40 metres.”
“Going down the road to the school, there were families that had lost their cars and two had a tree land on their house.
“The community supports my business, and I’m trying to repay some of that.”
Mr Taylor bought the business in 2019 to resettle further from the city with his wife and three daughters.
He said since posting online about the voucher last week, he had been bombarded with stories of people in need.
“From as far as Trentham, people writing about devastation to wildlife rescue shelters and others nominating a school that wants to host a memorial,” he said.
“It’s going to be so hard to make a decision because I’m receiving so many sad and compelling stories.
“If anything, I’d like to try and gather these submissions and find another way to help them.”
Entries close on June 30.
To nominate, message the nursery via Facebook: www.facebook.com/riddellscreeknursery
