Congratulations to our newest Paul Harris Fellow who has clearly demonstrated in his life, a commitment to helping people in need in the Granite Belt.
Russell is married for 26 years to Samantha and is dad to three daughters and four grandchildren who are the absolute light of his life.
He has lived in Stanthorpe all his life and is part of a generational family on the Granite Belt on both sides of his family. His grandfather was actually given a soldiers settlement block at Amiens after returning from Gallipoli in WW1.
He started Granite Belt Water Relief (GBWR) after seeing a family bucketing water from Storm King Dam to bathe and wash and literally on the spot decided that something needed to be done and so started a charity to give away water. As he works for Lindsay Bros transport he has many contacts in the transport industry and so it just seemed a natural fit.
There are over 50 volunteers working at GBWR and Russell has really struck up important friendships with some of them. To date over 10,000 million litres of bulk water and over 500 pallets of bottled water have been distributed to residents across the Granite Belt.
What started out as water has grown to food, clothing, toys, boots etc. As Samantha says: “ Every time any of us say that might be a little too hard Russell, you can guarantee he will make it happen.”
Russell doesn't take no for an answer and he really believes in the underdog. it really hits hard when he sees our local residents struggling.
There were weeks when there was not enough water and so instead of saying no to someone, he would grab a friend and a Lindsay Bros. truck and after having worked a 15 hours day, drive back to get more water so people had their quota.
Russell truly exemplifies ‘Service above Self