When Koroit based owner operator Scott Wilson heard the story of injured truckie Michelle Pillar, he wanted to find a way to help – now one act of kindness has led to another.
Michelle, 25, is a livestock truckie from Western Victoria who works for Boyle’s Livestock Transport.
Earlier this year, she was involved in a horrific accident, where she was trapped in the truck for almost 12 hours. As a result of her injuries, both of her legs required amputation.
The Mortlake Roadhouse was quick to rally behind Michelle, launching a fundraiser, which attracted the generosity of many. To date, over $126,000 has been raised.
Roadhouse owner Dion Symons placed a fundraising bucket in the store, set up a bank account specifically for donations, is among numerous businesses selling ‘Give Em Hell Michelle’ stickers and he’s helped to auction off various donated items via the Mortlake Roadhouse Facebook page.
So far, there have been around 20 auction items up for grabs – among them was a B-double load of hay donated by Wilson – consisting of A-grade quality vetch and clover in the A trailer and barley straw in the B trailer.
“Scotty, who owns Wilson’s Contracting, donated his hay and offered to transport it to wherever it was needed,” said Symons.
Brian Evomr answered the call, placing the generous winning bid of $8000 – only he didn’t actually need the hay and wanted to donate it to someone who did.
“Brian messaged privately on our Facebook page saying he’d really like to put a bid in and didn’t need the say so he so wanted to donate it,” explained Symons.
Symons told Evomr that he was sure he’d find someone in need of the hay. Then just a few days later, he was alerted to a truckie in need of the hay when he was messaged by Shirl McCosker.
The hay was donated to Daniel Kelly, who lives in Edenhope, Victoria – around three hours north of Mortlake Roadhouse. On January 21, there was a fire at his property, with all of his hay sheds and various equipment burnt to the ground.
Yesterday, Wilson made the trip to Edenhope to deliver the hay to Kelly. He took to the Mortlake Roadhouse Facebook page to thank everyone involved: “Thankyou Mortlake Roadhouse, Shirl McCosker, Brian Evomr and Scott Wilson. You blokes are Amazing. You have made two bad situations work together to help us and Michelle out. We are so lucky to have people like you in our lives! Thank you again,” he wrote.