The St George Illawarra Dragons' community relief tour of the South Coast concluded on Wednesday; the club spending three days covering off 200 kilometres of the bushfire-ravaged area.
Select Dragons representatives spent Monday in Moruya before the entire club's playing squad, football and administration staff convened at Batemans Bay's Hanging Rock Sports Complex on Tuesday for an afternoon of activities and a meet and greet.
While the tragic double fatality in Bodalla later on Tuesday prevented the club from staying in their planned accommodation in Narooma and Bermagui, members of the playing squad and staff still travelled south on Wednesday to fulfil the majority of the scheduled community events.
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Wednesday saw the Dragons take part in a number of community activities that included setting up animal food stations in Milton, feeding giraffes at Mogo Zoo, fixing fences on the Jessop and Salway family farms in Cobargo as well as visiting schools and community centres from Lake Conjola to as far south as Quaama.
The Dragons' major partner St.George Bank also donated $2000 to Cobargo Public School to help buy new goal posts after their old ones were destroyed amongst the bushfire devastation, while the club funded a community BBQ as part of the Cobargo Co-Op.
A broken down bus at Narooma impacted a number of Dragons players and staff members on Wednesday afternoon – of which we thank Davis and Herbert Timber and Forestry mill for their assistance – but that was nothing compared to the suffering caused within this segment of the club's catchment.
Dragons Community have already committed to continually frequent the South Coast in name of delivering important programs such as Best You Can Be. The Dragons Community team will also visit the likes of Bega, Eden and Tathra later in 2020.
As announced on Thursday, the Dragons' community relief tour acted as an extension to the NRL's Roads to Regions program that will commence in mid-February.
