Rochester Lions Club member Anne Chirnside, McDonald's operations supervisor Cameron Hay, former club president Ken Hocking, secretary Belinda Cooper-Green, McDonald's owner-operator Scott Moller, club members Sam Scoble and Paul Butler and current club president John Atley. Photos: Emily Donohoe
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
Rochester Lions Club celebrated its newly donated barbecue trailer by serving up souvlakis at the Campaspe Health Expo on Wednesday, August 28.
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The donation was funded by McDonald’s Australia and the Victorian and Tasmanian licensees.
McDonald’s Echuca, Moama and Deniliquin owner-operator Scott Moller had conversions with past Lions Damien McInnes, Ken Hocking and Vincent Childs.
“After the devastating floods that we all went through, the Victorian and Tasmanian licensees made a donation into a fund and McDonald’s Australia also pitched in to make some funds available in our area,” he said.
“I started to reach out (to see) who we could help out with the most benefit and cover the most amount of people.
“I got in contact with the Rochy Lions ... they had a dream of doing a better barbecue system.
“We thought, ‘right, we’ll get behind that and help you out’ and through a series of phone calls, we ended up funding the whole thing.”
Rochester Lions Club is grateful for the $38,500 addition, officially launching at the health expo with souvlakis, a recipe taught by the Rochester Fish Shop team at July’s community barbecue.
Club president John Atley has already received bookings for the club to cater at upcoming events, including the St Joseph’s Primary School Father’s Day event.
“What a difference it will make in the community,” he said.
“We’ve already had a phone call today.”
Rochester Lions Club president John Atley and McDonald's Echuca, Moama and Deniliquin owner-operator Scott Moller.
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
The trailer was designed and built by Echuca-based Catavan & Co with features like solar panels, shelving, sliding brackets for the barbecue, LED lights, hot water, a fridge and storage.
Catavan & Co’s Joe, Maria and Joel Catanese spent about two or three months on the project and the club is thrilled with the result.
“There’s not many barbecues around like this one,” former Rochester Lions Club president Ken Hocking said.
The trailer is able to be used in emergencies as it is almost entirely self-sufficient through its thought-out design.
“We used our other trailer during the floods,” Mr Atley said.
“(This one) is all self-contained. Hopefully it never happens again (but in) emergencies, anything like that we can roll this out.
“It’s got hot water, a fridge, it’s pretty self-sufficient.”
Mr Moller was delighted to see the trailer in use and be able to give back to the residents of Rochester.
“The community of Rochester have always supported our business and come and visited Echuca,” he said.
“It’s really a pleasure that we’ve been able to give back ... there were no questions asked from the co-op (of licensees) to say, ‘yep, what do they need?’ and get behind them.
“I think they should be really proud of themselves for coming up with the vision of it and I’m proud of the fact that we could be part of it.”
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