Nothing corny about this OOR donation

TURNS out, money grows on corn stalks, not trees.

About 500 ears of corn were sold from the Dust Jacket bookshop on Saturday, January 31. The $1123 raised was donated to Inverell’s Operation Operating Room (OOR), and took 12 weeks to mature at the BEST Food Garden.

BEST Employment social programs co-ordinator Danny Middleton said the value of the garden was helping a community look after its own.

“This is one way we can do that,” he said.

“Everyone’s going to benefit from this charity.”

OOR president Di Baker gladly accepted the cheque on Wednesday morning to fund the list of items with which the committee wants to supply the hospital.

She said a recent OOR contribution of bluetooth headphones for the renal dialysis rooms was valuable for patients who sit for five to six hours at a stretch for treatment.

“So people can watch telly without interfering with the other patients,” she said.

Inverell Hospital acting health services manager Hamish Yeates said the OOR equipment contributions have always improved patient care, and felt the corn sale donation was significant.

Recent OOR donated equipment includes a spirometer to assess breathing, a weigh chair to weigh patients who cannot stand, and necessary surgical equipment.

“The big thing for me would be this demonstrates a commitment from the community in the hospital,” he said. 

Dust Jacket owner Josh McPhee said the shop donated a percentage from their sales, and Out the Back Café owner Andrea Perreau said the café cooked up ears and made corn savoury slices to sell for the charity, and put 50 cents from every coffee sale into the OOR kitty.

“It’s very generous of BEST Food Garden to donate to OOR, and very generous of Josh and Andrea,” Di said and thanked the community for coming to the cause.

Danny said the many hands that helped the corn grow from seed to sale for the OOR charity positively affected many demographics. 

“I think about this all the time; BEST Food Garden, it’s not tangible and it’s very hard to measure the social impacts of what it achieves,” he said.

“Dollar terms, we’re not making any money, but socially, what are we’re achieving?

“It’s worth a million dollars.”