AN interstate charity has turned its attention to Tasmania's drought-stricken farmers with a new campaign to provide them with 10 containers of grain to ease the feed and fodder shortage conditions.
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Shout a Mate is an organisation founded in Bendigo in 2011 that assists people in rural and remote communities.
The organisation bases itself around the notion of monetary "shouts" and has started a new campaign, GrainsforTassiefarmers.
"We don't like to call it donations because we like to give people a hand up, not a hand out," SAM founder Anita Donlon said.
"It [shouts] gives more ownership to the person doing the shouting; it's what mates do."
Ms Donlon said the focus of her organisation was to bring awareness and to bring people together, particularly in smaller or rural communities.
She said the organisation had been alerted to the plight of Tasmania's rural community by one of SAM's members, Jane Bowman.
"Jane used to be from Tassie, her parents still live there and she has family and friends that work on the land," Ms Donlon said.
The GrainsforTassiefarmers project is a crowdfunding one where people can "shout" to help the organisation reach its target of $100,000.
The funds raised will go towards providing 10 20-tonne containers of grain to be distributed to the state's rural community most affected by the unseasonably dry conditions.
The crowdfunding page has so far attracted $1855 in "shouts" and will remain open until February 29.
Ms Donlon said the grain would be sourced from a company on the mainland that already supplied Tasmania so would meet the state's strict biosecurity measures.
The crowdfunding campaign is the first step in SAM's focus on the state.
Ms Donlon said another arm of the organisation was its "Aussie Aid" nights that the members would love to bring to Tasmania.
Aussie Aid nights are hosted by hotels in the local community and see a comedian and a musician take to the stage.
Ms Donlon said the organisation was seeking funding or sponsorship to get them across Bass Strait to bring the show to the state.
■ To find out other ways to help support the GrainforTassiefarmers project, go to http://www.shoutamate.
com.au/ or to "shout" the campaign go to https://ozcrowd.com/campaigns/grain-for-tassie-farmers-2/?updated=true#.VrqiyPl95D9
