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Volunteer Need for Feed Australia driver flies the Krueger flag

Need for Feed Australia is a charity organisation which sees volunteers participate in hay runs to flood, fire and drought-affected areas throughout Australia.

Since establishing in 2006, Need for Feed has delivered over $45 million in total aid and is widely recognised as a leading volunteer providing support for farmers and rural communities in the country.

Its deliveries over the last two years of floods across the eastern states have topped 750 truckloads, or nearly $7 million worth of donated fodder and transport.

Now, 16 years into its journey, Need for Feed continues to be 100-per-cent-powered by its volunteers. Mark Tuckerman, an electrician by day, is one of the many contributors that give up their spare time for the worthy cause.

“I do the Need for Feed charity work on weekends and my days off,” he says. “It’s really fulfilling to know that I’m helping people in need. It’s bad seeing the devastation and seeing the farms in some of the states that they’ve been in, so knowing that we’ve done something to help them out is satisfying.”

For over four years, Mark has travelled around most states to help these farmers and families out. This has seen him in South Australia, Northern and central Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland up as far as Winton.

“For the last four weekends straight, I’ve been working, coming home to the new grandchild and then on the weekends from Friday afternoon to Sunday night I’m out picking up hay and delivering it to the farmers,” he says. “So, it’s taking up all of my time.”

In these trips, Mark carts truckloads of hay on his own truck and trailer combination, a 1994 Mack CLR and a 1997 Krueger drop deck Kurtainer made into a drop deck flat top.

“It’s been a good trailer,” he says. “I’ve looked after it and kept it nice and clean. It’s sort of what we need to get the maximum amount of hay on to get out to the farmers, because if it’s a flat top, we don’t get as much on.”

Through its national service division, Krueger is sponsoring Mark and his trailer as he represents the company throughout Australian communities. This includes offering maintenance and service work on the trailer whenever it is required, as seen in an instance when there was some work needed on the front axle.

“I started having trouble with an axle floating around, so I went in and saw the guys at Krueger and they fixed it up,” he says. “They’re not that far from where I work, so it was handy to just drop in there and go directly to Krueger.”

Renew by Krueger Supervisor, Tom Robinson, was at the forefront of this project.

“When Mark brought it to us, he needed his front axle replaced,” he says. “While it was here, we thought it would be good to give back with a full paint job, new lights and stickers. We did a lot to it.

“We had the three apprentices on the job, and I thought it would be good for them to get involved with the job as well. So, I was supervising them throughout the whole process.”

Offering this type of support and more to Mark is the least Krueger can do, says Creative Lead – Marketing, James Tamanika.

“We always love stories about these old Kruegers still getting around,” he says. “Hearing Mark’s story and how his ’97 Krueger is used in such a way, we jumped at the opportunity to help him. It also gives us a great platform for us to launch our rebranded fabrication shop, now called Renew by Krueger, as well as our getting all our workshop apprentices involved to learn more and be involved with something so great.

“With the work done to Mark’s trailer, we are proud to see it as part of the fleet of volunteers helping our farming communities get back on their feet. We commend Mark and all the volunteers who are a part of the Need for Feed organisation.”

For Mark, knowing he can rely on Krueger anywhere in Australia is a relief.

“It’s great knowing that I’ve got their support and their help now to keep the trailer well maintained,” he says. “I appreciate what they’ve done, and I’d like to thank them all for it. It’s nice to know that people care.”

The post Volunteer Need for Feed Australia driver flies the Krueger flag appeared first on Trailer Magazine.

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