Festival president Ron Campbell recently presented donations of $1500 each to the Westpac Helicopter Service and Merriwa Volunteer Rescue Association (VRA).

Long-time committed fundraiser for the festival Eva Towler was also presented with a Festival T-shirt as a thank you for her volunteering.

Mr Campbell said that from the festival's inception, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and the local VRA have been recipients of funding.

As the Merriwa SES has now closed, Merriwa VRA has become particularity vital the community and Mr Campbell said it's important to continue to support it through fundraising.

"The VRA is the local rescue emergency organisation and it's run by volunteers and does not have any government funding at all," he said.

"All the equipment they use to attend road accidents, emergency repairs, floods etc have been obtained by local fundraising, and needs to be continuously upgraded to meet the needs of emergency challenges.

"The equipment has all been accredited to attend any emergency."

Mr Campbell said there is also an important need for a purpose built shed, fit for the future including information technology facilities, for the police, VRA, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Local Land Services and Rural Fire Service to be able to coordinate all services from a central location.

While draft plans have been drawn up for the Merriwa facility, the proposal does not have funding as yet.