How the Sydney beach kid, Jack Berne, raised over $2.1 million dollars for Aussie farmers

Name: Jack Berne

Age: 14

Lives in: Northern Beaches, Sydney

Favourite sport: Basketball and Rugby (Union)

Dream job: Professional Sportsman or Paramedic

Registered charity name: Jack’s Mates Foundation

Money raised for Aussie farmers: Over $2.1 million dollars

Between school, basketball and fundraising, we caught up with Jack Berne (Founder of A Fiver for a Farmer) to find out more about how he’s manage to accomplish everything he has from age 10 to 14.

Oli: Jack, can you tell us a little bit about who you are?

Jack: So my name is Jack Berne, I'm 14 years old and about four years ago, when I was 10, I decided to start a charity called A Fiver for A Farmer, where I got people to dress up like farmers and bring in $5 to support the drought, and through that initiative, I now run a registered charity called Jack Mate’s Foundation. I've raised 2.1 million [dollars], I've been lucky enough to meet Prime Minister's, go overseas, and yeah, I have a great time doing it.

Oli: Tell me a little bit about it, so you started raising money, the fiver for a farmer was an idea off the back of the drought and it was just at your primary school, wasn't it?

Jack: So I watched a BTN (Behind The News) video, which is news for kids, and it kind of just breaks it down for kids, and after watching that, I just kind of got really upset about it because I saw kids my age, missing out on school, and missing out on their sport on the weekends and thought ‘I can do something about this.’ So I went home and spoke to my mum, she didn't really have an idea of what was going on, and no one did at the time, it wasn't on social media or anything. So I wrote an email and I said, this is what's happening, I have an idea, let's dress up, let's raise money, this is really important, and put my mum's phone number at the bottom without her knowing. So the next day, she got a tonne of calls and lots of people wanted me on TV shows, radio stations, newspapers, it was probably a bit overwhelming for her, but we made it work.

Oli: Before this moment, before you came across the drought, had you ever had anything to do with farming or agriculture before?

Jack: Not at all. I'd never been on a working farm, never been out in the country, not a clue.

Oli: So where is home for you? I know you live in Sydney but whereabouts?

Jack: Northern Beaches, so you know, all I see is water, like every day. I'm very fortunate for where I live. You know, the grass is green, and I've got an amazing community, but yeah, very, very far away place from any country town.

Oli: In your dreams, did you ever think, ‘I want to be on TV or on the radio’, what were you trying to do?

Jack: I don’t really know, like I think my goal was to really help these people, I didn’t expect to get this much support and awareness. It’s crazy now I look back at it, if you would have told me, with no preparation, ‘you’re going on TV tomorrow’, I don’t think I would have the guts to do it, it’s pretty nerve racking. But I guess as soon as I had a passion and an idea, I could just speak for days about it. It’s become really interesting to me, and these farmers, they’re so nice it’s indescribable.

Through the toughest times they’ve taken me into their homes, and from that I just think it’s really important that I help them.

Oli: The first time you ever went on a farm, you'd raised a little bit of money at the time through the drought, so can you tell me a little bit about that first time you actually went onto a working farm and what it was like, in the midst of the drought?

Jack: Yeah, so I think we were at about $260,000 funds, and Sunrise emailed my mum and said, ‘Let's go up and visit a farm.’ So we went up to Molong and it was it was really cool. I met this great family, and we were out on their property, having a great time. It was really cool, and it was a bit of an eye opener actually to see what a working farm is really like. I portrayed it in my mind on the way there and it was nothing like it was [in real life].

Jack on The Morning Show (IMAGE CREDIT: Supplied)

Tune in to hear Jack share more of his story and journey as he sits down and chats with us about his passion for raising awareness for farmers, his love of helping people, his love of Rugby Union and even running the Match Ball out for the England vs Australia Test match at the SCG.