YOU can smell the ocean before you see it. Then, as you walk down the long driveway and across the road, you can hear the waves pounding and seagulls calling overhead. Curl Curl Beach with its golden sand, brilliant blue ocean and bronzed lifesavers is the stuff many dreams are made of. Yet 13-year-old Jack Berne's mind is often elsewhere.
This Curl Curl teen is instantly recognisable to many people across Australia and the globe, and when we met him on the beach that day he was wearing that familiar Christmas tree green-coloured work shirt, shorts and his trademark Akubra hat. He speaks with confidence that outstrips his young years, and with clear concern and empathy for those he's trying to help.
Jack is the founder of A Fiver for a Farmer charity and he has just one wish this Christmas - that you support rural Aussies by making a donation or by buying Australian produce and gifts.
It's been a tough 18 months for farmers. During that time, they've been dealing not only with COVID-19 but also droughts, fires, floods, mouse plagues and a desperate shortage of farm workers. Christmas is meant to be a time of joy, but data shows one in five people in rural areas are experiencing mental health issues.
Three long years ago, when Jack was just 10 years old, he first heard about the drought.
"I'd never heard the word 'drought' in my life, I barely knew what a farm was," he said. "It kind of upset me that I didn't know anything about it. There was no-one helping them, there was no-one there for them. It was a lot to take in for a 10-year-old and that's what fired me up and I thought 'I've got to do something about this'. It was a fire in my belly, it was a passion."
With the help of his mother Prue Berne, who came up with the name, A Fiver for a Farmer, Jack organised a dress-up day at his school, with all students donating $5 to help drought-affected farmers.
But the $400 he raised wasn't enough to satisfy his urge to help, so he started writing emails.
"I wrote an email, in horrible 10-year-old punctuation," Jack said. "Mum's big on grammar so she's trying to fix it up and I said 'no no no, it's got to be from me'. I sent it off, with probably a million spelling mistakes, to Channel 10 producers, Channel 9, Channel 7, anyone who would listen, radio stations, newspapers just everything.
It just went gangbusters really, which was awesome, because people were really listening and it got me really excited because I was just this shy 10-year-old kid.
- Jack Berne, 13
"It just went gangbusters really, which was awesome, because people were really listening and it got me really excited because I was just this shy 10-year-old kid."
Within 24 hours of sending that email, Jack appeared on Sunrise to promote his A Fiver for a Farmer fundraiser.
Politics, private planes and cupcakes
Sunrise producers wanted to spruik a big target to their viewers on behalf of Jack, but he and his mum weren't so sure.
"Channel 7 were like 'no no no you've got to go big', but my Mum was 'no I really want him to smash it out of the park'," Jack explained. "They said 'why don't you do $100,000' and Mum was 'are you crazy?'.
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"We settled at $20,000, that was our initial goal, and we hit that in 19 hours which was so cool. After five weeks we raised $1 million.
"After that, it was a whirlwind, we were everywhere. I was lucky enough to meet Malcolm Turnbull when he was prime minister. He was so nice, it was really promising and I thought 'he's really going to do something' and then the next day he got kicked out [of government] so it was a bit of false hope.
"Then we met ScoMo last year, he's such a legend. We went on his private plane, which was so cool and I just ate all the chocolates in the world, we had cupcakes, it was awesome."
When asked during a recent Studio 10 appearance if he wanted to go into politics, Jack quipped 'No I'm not a very good liar' and the comment drew wild laughter from the show's presenters.
"I don't want to be a politician really, I just want to help people," he said. "I've been watching the show Paramedics and that seems like a cool, wholesome job."
Jack and his mother were also flown to the United States to appear on Little Big Shots with Melissa McCarthy.
Criss-crossing the country
In between all the speaking engagements and meeting prime ministers, Jack and his mum have visited rural Aussies across the country. Farmers have shared their desperate struggles of trying to keep their properties running amid the lack of rain, mouse plagues and bushfires.
He's met rural kids who can't play sport because struggling farmers, towns and sporting clubs can't afford to buy equipment. During the mouse plague, Jack met a mother of twins who had to put the legs of the cot in buckets of water to stop the mice from crawling up and onto her babies.
I don't know how they always have a smile on their face, in the toughest times they're always smiling. I think we all need to be a little bit more like them.
- Jack Berne, 13
"I've heard so many stories about the smell and it's horrendous," he said. "I don't know how they always have a smile on their face, in the toughest times they're always smiling. I think we all need to be a little bit more like them."
Mrs Berne said mental health issues are often just as significant for the farmers as they struggle through the drought.
"They're dealing with a lot of suicide and mental health and children having to experience the really hard parts of the cattle being killed off because it was cheaper," she said.
For its first few years of operation, all funds raised by A Fiver for a Farmer were then sent on to Drought Angels and Rural Aid, and those charities distributed help, feed for stock and helped pay bills for struggling farmers. In October 2020, A Fiver for a Farmer became a registered charity and now Jack and Prue have the final say on where and how donations will be distributed based on applications received from farmers.
Help on the ground
Drought Angels founder and CEO Tash Johnston has worked with Jack and his mum since the beginning and said the funds they've raised have changed lives. "He's this amazing unique boy who has the biggest heart," she said.
Funds provided by A Fiver for a Farmer to Drought Angels have helped farmers pay bills, given them prepaid VISAs or fuel cards, and also helped cover costs of having to travel out of their area for medical appointments.
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While much of NSW is no longer in drought, other parts of Australia still are, and Ms Johnston said it can take farmers years to recover from a long drought.
"Often it takes three years for every year they've been in drought to recover," she said. "A dollar to you might be pocket change, but to me it's life-changing."
Jack has recently begun hosting a podcast called One Small Act, which is in collaboration with Kindness Factory. KF was founded by fellow northern beaches local Kath Koschel. The podcast celebrates children from across the world who have started a movement with just 'one small act'.
A family affair
Jack's mum has been by his side through all the farm trips, prime ministerial visits and TV appearances, and she said it's still hard not to shed a tear as she beams with pride watching her son.
"There's a lot of 'pinch me' moments that happen," she said. "I haven't yet mastered how not to cry every time he starts talking. You're always proud as a parent, I think for me I'm really proud how he's grown.
"Every time he's stepped out and said something really wise beyond his years, I've cried."
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