Without the assistance of dedicated volunteers like Trevor, events like the Westfield Country Music Holt Rock Hoe Down, which established in 2001 and has been held twice-annually since, are unable to raise needed funds for charities that service our rural and remote communities, that valuably add culture to our community.
Kerrigan Valley Feedlot and Westfield Country Music / Holt Rock Hoe Down have entered this initiative into the ALFA Community Heroes Award 2022, proudly supported by Lallemand Animal Nutrition. The winner will be announced at the ALFA BeefEx22 Conference in October. Read on to find out more about how this feedlot is going above and beyond to support their local community.
Tell us about your Social Initiative...
The Holt Rock Country Hoedown commenced in 2001 hosted by Westfield Country Music Club on the property of the Gary and Delys Strother and Family in the community of Holt Rock situated 400kms from Perth Western Australia, a small rural community. The event commenced in 2001 and has been held annually twice a year in April and October except for the one during COVID.
It all started with Gary Strother's love of country music. The event was held with Music, Auctions and raffles raising funds for charities, etc. It now hosts 350-400 people at the main event and many camp and stay for days before and after, enjoying the country hospitality.
Lot Feeder, Trevor Hinck from Kerrigan Valley Feedlot in WA, or ‘Sheriff’ as he is affectionally known as, has volunteered at the event since inception dedicating a lot of his spare (or not so spare) time over the years to helping the charity event be a success.
Owning his own business and a full-time working director in his Feedlot and grain property, he still finds time to always volunteer his time to the community and surrounding areas, particularly our events.
Trevor auctioneers and MC’s the event with Gary, helps source items that will attract the audience to pay good money for. Every year, he organises and sources the meat from his Kerrigan Valley Feedlot brand for the organisation.
He entertains the audience all night. He has a great auctioneering voice and with his humour and enthusiasm gets the crowd to donate to these worthy charities. Over the 21 years from 2001 he has helped the organisation raise funds for many charities to name a few:
The Royal Flying Doctor,
Varley St Johns,
The Heart and Lung Transplant Foundation,
Hyden Silver Chain,
Kids Cancer Support Group,
Quality Camp for Kids with Cancer,
McGrath Foundation,
Tiny Sparks WA and
The Heart Foundation.
Raising over $112,660.
For every event, Trevor spends many volunteering hours doing whatever the committee ask of him, from organising the meat for the BBQ packs to cooking the meat if we have roasts or beef rolls. He always offers his ideas and helps with any changes at the last minute. He can read an audience – a true indicator of his personality and entertain them. He is so reliable and will always honour, anything to make the event a success. When we are finding donations for the auction and we don’t know how to source them, Trevor is only a call away. He always seems to know who to contact and the ability to get them to donate it. He not only sources it, but he also organises it right down to delivery.
What impact is the initiative having on the local community?
Without the assistance of dedicated volunteers like Trevor, events like this are unable to raise needed funds for charities that service our rural and remote communities, that valuably add culture to our community. A lot of these communities do not have doctors, hospitals etc they are so important to our everyday life and we rely so much on them. Therefore, we rely heavily on the community to donate their time and energy to assisting with running these types of events.
The Holt Rock Hoedown has raised funds for several charities, to name a few, The Royal Flying Doctor Service, St Johns Varley, Hyden Silver Chain, Kids Cancer Support Group, Quality Camp for Kids with Cancer, McGrath Foundation, Tiny Sparks WA, The Heart Foundation and many more. We have raised a total of $112,660 over these years.
Trevor Hinck has played a major part in helping to raise these funds, aside from his substantial personal donations, Trevor alongside Gary, have kept our audiences entertained hosting our auctions at the Hoedowns. He brings enthusiasm, a great auctioneering voice and of course laughter to every show. Aside from the auctions he calls our raffle and door prize winners also. Sometimes these auctions can go on for quite sometime and we never hear a complaint from Trevor, he just stands up there raising as much money for our charities as he can and we are very grateful.
Trevor provides our BBQ packs for every Hoedown which are always delicious and well received by our patrons.
Have you come across any challenges in getting the initiative off the ground?
There are many challenges with these types of events in small rural communities. From sourcing items that will attract the audience and then encouraging them to purchase for a good amount of money, attracting a crowd, continually improving the facilities as the number of attendees increases annually, and Good music that has the crowd on their feet and entertained.
Trevor is always a phone call away to help us make decisions whether it be about the change of BBQ packs to a spit or hamburgers or helping us decide on the running of the night, what we should change, what goes on too long etc….
The Hoedown is a lot of work to get organised and sadly Gary Strother unexpectedly passed away last year, leaving a big shoes to fill. Despite the incredible sadness and setback this imposed, Trevor continued to turn up without his sidekick on stage to run the auctions/raffles and to make the crowd laugh and for that we are truly grateful and we could not imagine it without him.
It was very challenging without Gary, but Trevor wants Gary’s legacy to continue through the Country music Hoedown for the community and its surrounds. He is a real people person and his personality and aura light up the room, with the audiences new and over years waiting for his jokes and entertainment.
On top of this Trevor is very passionate about raising funds for charities close to his heart and needed in the communities.
He has also volunteered for many organisations, some listed below:
WALFA Board - 2002 to current 2022
Vice President WALFA - 2009-2013
President WALFA - 2014-2019
ALFA Board – 2015-2021
FESA. Fire and Emergency services for 28 years.
Fire control officer for 2 shires.
He always attends busy bees, from planting and harvesting crops to donating products for these, including compost he makes from his feedlot to better the ground facilities for community gardens and sporting grounds. He donates the meat too many clubs, so they can fundraise funds for their organisation not only in Hyden and surrounds but other organisations in Perth.
He is a life member of The Hyden Karlgarin Football club having been President and on the committee for the club through many challenging earlier years. Playing over 300 games and volunteered his time as President of the Eastern District Football league for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Seasons, this involved many voluntary hours of time and travel. He sponsored the Hyden Netball Club uniforms for the Seniors, Juniors and netters. Also volunteering time to plant their crop this season. He donates Medals to the Hyden Primary school annually for their Cross country event and also supports and donates to the annual McGrath day at the Hyden Tennis Club.
He volunteers his time at the Hyden Golf Club from busy bees, and committee man, working on the grounds, cooking meat to organising a chef for last year's event. He sponsors the Kerrigan Valley classic for ladies annually.
Many organisations have gained from Trevor’s volunteering over his life in the local community and further afield.,
Volunteering has always been important to him. He believes this is what makes communities strong and united. Trevor supports and promotes the industry by allowing students to gain practical experience and knowledge in his feedlot enterprise.
Trevor is regarded as a model lotfeeder who continually gives back to his community in so many ways.
And as Jo Strother and Robin Calvert from the Westfield Country Music/ Holt Rock Hoe Down say
“There a very few people in the world that are 100% reliable and will honour what they say they will do, Trevor Hinck (or the Sheriff as he is known to us all) is one of those people. You only have to ask once, he is always the first to put his hand up, nothing is to much trouble, that is why The Holt Rock Hoedown Committee and the Strother Family believe The Sheriff is worthy of the ALFA Community Hero Award.”
See the initiative in action:
About the ALFA Community Heroes Award
Australian feedlots are vital to the fabric of rural and regional Australia by creating jobs, supporting families, and contributing to local economies and the environment. This award recognises and rewards those feedlots that are actively nourishing their local communities and environment by going above and beyond to support their community, that ‘give-back’ and better the environment around them. The winning initiative will receive a $5,000 cash donation towards a local charity, business, or feedlot initiative to assist in further development and impact of the initiative.
With thanks to our ALFA Platinum Member sponsor, Lallemand Animal Nutrition for their support of this Award.
