Community & Business
23 September, 2025
Oakey Beef Challenge raises $24k for new Chappy
The inaugural Oakey section of the Moonie River Beef Challenge raised $24,000 for Oakey chaplaincy.
In a novel way of raising funds for chaplaincy, participants in the challenge bought beasts in an Oakey section of a Balonne Shire-based chaplaincy challenge.
The local steers were added to a pen and fed for 100 days on the Moonie River site, with an award given to the steer who put on the Most Weight over the 100 days.
After the three-month fattening period, the winners announced at a recent fundraising dinner were Rod and Anne Smith from Jondaryan, while the Oakey RSL’s Syndicate took out the wooden spoon.
Guest speaker at the dinner was Scripture Union Chaplaincy Co-ordinator Jason Berry who spoke passionately about the work of local chaplains in the Toowoomba Region.
“I do believe in seeing children for who they are, and not writing them off based on their family associations,” he said.
“I see our role as to let the students know they can bounce back from the horrible things in life.
“Our motto is “We can’t do everything, but we can do something for someone.”
Dinner attendees, mostly from local churches and businesses were introduced to Oakey’s new chaplain Larissa Dove.
“I’ve been here five weeks, but it feels like many years because of the community here,” she said.
Larissa said she’d become a chaplain because of the positive influence that words of encouragement from mentors such as her pastor, and tertiary art teacher had during the struggles of her formative years.
MC for the evening and Oakey Chaplaincy Support Team Leader Pastor Ken Schultz, whose son Justin hosted the steers on his St. George feedlot, said he hopes the challenge will become an annual event.
