What we have achieved over the past 8 weeks since the fires. What have the money donations been used for?
- Source & distribute hay to the drought & fire affected communities.
- Pay haulage contractors
- Purchased numerous large bags of ‘high protein’ pellets for the farm breeding stock, using local grain stores for distribution which supports the local retailers also. The breeding season is about to commence, this is an urgent need.
- Ordered 1.5 containers of ‘star pickets’ to assist with the many kilometres of fencing required to prevent stock wandering. Treated pine posts & wire are also being sourced for the hobby farmers.
- Developed a ‘money voucher’ system whereby all fire survivors receive funds in the format of the vouchers, which can be redeemed across 90% of retailers & professional businesses of East Gippsland, this activity also supports the retailers by ‘shopping locally’. Once a voucher is presented to a store, the store owner scans the voucher through & we reimburse via EFT. The money vouchers were in circulation very quickly hand delivered to the specific families [this is an ongoing process].
- We have distributed new workwear to fire affected properties which allowed people to ‘save’ their limited clothing.
- Community BBQ’s & working Bee’s where members of
communities can reconnect, develop relationships and ‘talk’.
- Sourcing & Distributing donated furniture, bedding & white
goods to those in desperate need.
- Collecting names & addresses of those fire affected properties that would like/need a Shipping container which will allow them to store work tools etc securely, the containers will
hopefully be ready for distribution next week.
- Being a conduit for those needing professional assistance
urgently.
- An amazing amount of volunteering & traveling over a vast region to assist the communities
Pearl Findlay-James
Chairperson
East Gippsland Rotary Fire Aid President
Bairnsdale Rotary Sunrise
Ph: 0408 891 246