By Amy Blom
New sponsors were being sought for the Jarrahdale log chop after organisers were told by lotterywest they could use money from stall fees to fund the event.
Lotterywest had given grants to the Serpentine Jarrahdale Lions club-run log chop and country fair since 2008, with seven grants totalling more than $43,000. Lions club treasurer Sandra Hansen said this money was used for toilet facilities, generators and operating costs, which totalled about $8000.
She said money raised from the stallholder fees, usually about $4000, was donated to community groups including Riding for the Disabled Oakford and Serpentine Jarrahdale youth group.
Volunteer fire brigades were also given a small donation in return for help managing parking and security at the event.
Ms Hansen said when she applied for the grant this year she received an email from lotterywest asking her to put the stallholder fees towards the event rather than donate it to community groups, which would allow the $8000 grant to be reduced by half.
The email stated Lotterywest didn’t like its grants being used to subsidise donations to other groups and it would prefer its grant was being used to deliver an event.
Ms Hansen was frustrated because the log chop and country fair was a well known event that brought people into the region and fundraising was just a small part of it.
“The axe men come straight from the Perth royal show and it’s a huge event for the area, which includes kids rides, stalls and recently lotterywest asked us to include an animal farm attraction, which costs more,” she said.
“We never made a profit from the day but we put in hundreds of hours of work setting it up, so why shouldn’t we be able to keep the money made from the stalls which we then give to the community outright?
“Why have they now changed the rules?”
She said the event wouldn’t stop but the club were now looking for new sponsors as well as help from the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale.
A spokeswoman for lotterywest said the grant application for this year’s log chop was still being considered.
Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale Richard Gorbunow said the shire supported event like the log chop and would help the club look into alternative funding opportunities.
“The shire provides financial sponsorship to a number of groups through an events sponsorship fund each year,” he said.
“This has included the log chop to assist them with shortfalls in funding in 2014 and again for 2015.”
The log chop and country fair would be held at Jarrahdale oval on the first weekend of October.
