Rabobank's Good Deeds Initiative back for 2020

Content brought to you by Rabobank.

Please note: This competition has now closed. Make sure you listen to The Country on September 30, 2020 to hear if you're a winner!

For the fourth year in a row, Rabobank and The Country have teamed up for the Good Deeds Initiative.

The competition is open to anyone who has a community project that would benefit from $5000 of funding, along with a day's labour, courtesy of the teams at Rabobank and The Country.

Last year's winner was Dargaville Primary School's Garden Club, which had gone from strength to strength since receiving $3000 and a day's labour from The Country and Rabobank.

"We were able to build two more massive raised beds, which effectively doubled our growing area, which is good because we've had a pretty big jump in kids that want to be part of Garden Club" Dargaville Primary School parent Karey Pulman told The Country's Jamie Mackay.

As part of the prize, the Garden Club got a day's labour out of Sam "Lashes" Casey from The Country.

Pulman remained diplomatic when Mackay asked her for her opinion on his work ethic.

"He was upfront about his lack of gardening ability but his presence was welcome - the kids thought he was pretty cool."

Check out last year's winner here.

Rabobank chief executive Todd Charteris said the Good Deeds Initiative was a "fantastic" way for the bank's staff to connect with rural communities.

"It's a real highlight for our people out in these regions too. If they have local winners they really like getting involved in the community and helping out on that day."

"So I really encourage all of the local communities out there to put a top entry in and we'll look forward to getting the judging done.We wish everyone the best and hopefully we can emulate what was done in Dargaville last year."

Listen below:

Here are the prizes for this year's competition:
1st prize: $5k and a day of labour from local Rabobank team and The Country.
2nd prize: $1k and a day of labour from the local Rabobank team.
3rd prize: $1k and a day of labour from the local Rabobank team.

This year's competition starts September 8, 2020 and ends September 25, 2020.

The winner announced on The Country on September 30, 2020.