Twenty-six-year-old Victoria Pittari knows the debilitating effects of drought intimately.
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Miss Pittari grew up on a vegetable farm in the small town of Hanwood just outside of Griffith.
"As a child you feel that tension of there is not much money going around," she said.
"You start to feel that dread, that loss of hope."
Those feeling returned last year when Miss Pittari worked as teacher at a small private school in Moree in northern NSW.
Moree is in the grips of one of the worst droughts in its history.
According to the Bureau of Metereology Moree has experienced its lowest rainfall over 48 months on record.
Miss Pittari moved to Lakewood in the Camden Haven to work as a youth minister at the beginning of 2019.
But when she returned earlier this year to Moree she was shocked at how quickly the drought had worsened.
"My friend was sharing her heart with me," she said.
"Their livestock are dying due to lack of grass, hay and food and crops are not yielding as much profit due to the lack of water that will allow the seeds to germinate," she said.
That time in Moree proved the catalyst for the community-minded young woman to swing into action.
Miss Pittari has organised a fundraiser for farmers in Moree doing it tough on Friday October 4.
The event will include music, prayer, food and a talk on the conditions in Moree.
Miss Pittari, a committed Christian, started taking her faith seriously when she was 14-years-old.
"I see doing good works as an important part of my faith," she said.
"When you see a need you try and help and you trust that God will use what you do."
The Moree Drought Fundraiser is on Friday, October 4 at 6.30pm at the Lakewood Heights Centre, 11 Mission Terrace, Lakewood. All are welcome. Donate and/ or RSVP for the event here.
