Gore author Valmai Redhead recently launched the book From Waidale to the World in honour of the 50-year celebration.
''The two men proposed raising the money by grazing, fattening and selling a few head of stock,'' Mrs Redhead said.
Other farmers came on board.
''Less than one year later they reached their target, the Dunn family was farewelled and in the process something even more significant happened,'' she said
The Waidale Missionary Trust was formed.
''They supported the Dunns for six years.''
Writing the book was a more time-consuming task than Mrs Redhead first thought it might be. She had decided it was important to include personal stories of the people involved, which meant interviewing and writing up the accounts.
''I wanted to uncover people's stories.''
''The book celebrates some of those stories, for this, and for future generations; of stones of influence in the rivers, of life among godly people whose lives and whose families have been impacted through Waidale.''
The trust seemed to be insulated against outside financial influences. It kept flourishing.
Mrs Redhead said the ''freezing works'' strikes of the late 1970s, the widespread flooding of the Mataura River in 1978 and the sharemarket crash in 1987 were among influences that could have stunted the gains the trust made.
''But the trust continued to flourish, every year the support just kept increasing.''
The impact of the trust's financial support had been felt globally.
The trust also supports organisations such as IHC and Camp Columba in Pukerau, she said.
There were now 21 trustees and many of them were young people.
The trust donated $4000 in its first year and in the 2016 financial year it gave out $252,000 and it now owns two farms.
Book copies are available from Diane Cook on (03) 208-4437.
