Merv Brunt gets behind the wheel of a relic to raise funds for charity
By Samantha Freestone | April 19, 2010
The founder of Brunt’s Transport will this year travel from Victoria’s southwest to the Northern Territory to raise money for charity.
The 75-year-old Merv Brunt, who ran the company for more than 30 years, will drive a 1935 Brockway truck from Colac to the Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs to coincide with the annual awards ceremony.
Brunt is hoping to raise money for the charity group Anam Cara House to get a palliative care centre in Colac, and will be joined by a convoy of trucks, buses and cars.
The truck was chosen to coincide with Brunt’s age.
“Merv is 75 and the truck is 75. We thought we would love to put the 75 and the 75 together and raise $150,000,” Anam Cara House Director Diane Wright says.
A breakfast fundraiser attended by the likes of Lindsay Fox and the Victorian Transport Association was held last week and raised $40,000.
Wright says the $40,000 raised was a fantastic effort but more funds are still needed to support those facing a life-limiting illness.
“It is a big dream but you have to dream big,” she says.
Colac Otway Shire Mayor Lyn Russell says Blunt always supported the region.
“Merv has always been a strong supporter of this community, first as the owner of Brunt’s Transport, a respected and successful transport business that was an excellent employer of local people and supporter of our local economy,” Russell says.
“Now in retirement, Merv continues to serve his community, on this occasion a cross-country adventure to Alice Springs to raise money for Anam Cara,” she says.