Shine Awards: Helping hand brings fulfilment for rural volunteer

When Tash Kocks’ parents lost their family farm to drought, they started a charity to help other farmers facing tough times. She’s now working to continue their legacy.

Aussie Helpers chief executive Natasha Kocks has been nominated for a Shine Award.

When Tash Kocks received a phone call from her dad seven years ago asking for help running a rural-focused charity he and his wife founded, she initially was reluctant.

“But when your dad asks for help, you can’t say no,” she said.

She agreed to work for Aussie Helpers a few days a week while continuing to run her beauty business. But she quickly came to understand the deep satisfaction that came from helping others.

“I could never really understand why my parents had such a passion for what they did, because they volunteered their time 24/7 just trying to help others,” Ms Kocks said.

“I got to talk to some of the farmers on the phone and connect with them, and then I really started to understand why they did what they did, because you just wanted to do as much as you could to get them out of such a bad situation.

“So 12 months later, I ended up coming on board full time.”

She’s now the chief executive of Aussie Helpers, which was founded by her parents, Brian and Nerida Egan, in 2002 when their own farm was taken by the bank during the millennium drought.

Their devastation prompted them to start a charity organisation to help other farmers facing similar challenges.

“It was them recognising what they’d been through and that other people might be in need,” Ms Kocks said.

“For them there was no help, there was no one they could go to.

“That was a really tough period for them emotionally, and depression came into it, which gave Dad the basis for his idea because he had been through it and could relate.”

Brian Egan, who died in 2020, started off raffling groceries at a local pub to raise money and gradually the charity grew.

Aussie Helpers provides financial and wellbeing support for farmers and people living in rural Australia.

Aussie Helpers chief executive officer Natasha Kocks and her small team travel the eastern states helping wherever they can.

Ms Kocks and her small team travel the eastern states helping wherever they can, from farmers struggling to feed their stock because of droughts to rural communities devastated by floods.

The organisation also provides thousands of breakfasts, donated by Sanitarium, every year in rural schools to make sure no child goes hungry.

“I was terrified at first because I had big shoes to fill, but now I love what I do,” Ms Kocks said.

“I think the biggest thing is the people that we meet and connect with.

“We meet them when they are going through really bad times, but we also get to see people coming out the other side and get to see them shine.”

Ms Kocks, who lives in Gladstone, is also on the board of the Queensland Rural, Remote and Regional Women’s Network, a not-for-profit organisation that supports women in the bush.

“It’s about connecting,” Ms Kocks said.

“A lot of rural women can often feel very isolated so we do a lot of networking and events bringing rural women together.”

For her work to support rural Australians, Ms Kocks has been nominated for a Shine Award.

Now in their eighth year, the awards – run by rural masthead The Weekly Times and supported by Harvey Norman – recognise the achievements and contributions of women across rural and regional Australia.