Four local people are being labelled 'Dubbo's COVID heroes' after helping a family stuck between lockdown restrictions relocate to Melbourne.
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When John Copeland, wife Joy and their two children needed to move from Dubbo to Melbourne to continue running their medical company supply chain, COVID-19 proved to make things difficult.
The family had gone to Melbourne but found themselves in the midst of lockdowns and unable to return to pack up their Dubbo home.
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"We ended up selling the property, going back to Melbourne and then suddenly we were in a lockdown, we couldn't come back to Dubbo, couldn't move furniture, couldn't do anything and so we were buggered," Mr Copeland said.
However his friend, master of Macquarie Freemasons lodge Dubbo, John O'Brien and his son Peter, along with Dubbo Real Estate's Mark and Tara Searle came to the rescue.
John and Peter took care of the garden maintenance at their three acre property at Richmond Estate, while Mark and Tara took care of moving the furniture into storage and cleaning the house ready for handover to the new owners on September 10.
"These guys are seriously amazing," Mr Copeland said.
"My wife calls them 'Dubbo's COVID heroes'.
"John is 81-years-old and spent five hours cutting the lawns whilst Peter cut the edges and three acres of hedges.
"They managed all the gardening, it's huge it's like Buckingham palace."
Mr Copeland said the four also generously refused to accept money for their work, even after Mark had agreed to helping them get their furniture shipped back to Melbourne.
"I pushed the point to pay something, and the reply was 'no you're stuck in Melbourne and we understand you can't be here, so we want to help you get through this'," Mr Copeland said.
"It was unbelievable. Dubbo should be proud to have these people in the community."
Mr Copeland explained John had a motto 'if a fellow Freemason doesn't stand by and support a fellow mason, then he shouldn't be a mason', and had also helped donate some of their furniture to people around Dubbo.
"The leather couches that we couldn't bring back were worth around $15,000 and he gave them to a single mum with kids just to make their day," he said.
"I am a Freemason and can honestly say every man at that lodge would do the same," he said.
"I think any young man should join as John is the symbol of a true mason and now life long friends."
Zaarkacha Marlan
Court and crime reporter at the Daily Liberal. Formerly the sole journalist for the Nyngan Observer, Narromine News and Trangie Advocate.
Court and crime reporter at the Daily Liberal. Formerly the sole journalist for the Nyngan Observer, Narromine News and Trangie Advocate.
