By Dominique Tassell and Emily-Rose Toohey
Locals from all over the Southern Downs are doing their part to help our neighbours in the flood-affected Northern Rivers region.
Killarney local Sandy Mills drove to New South Wales last Wednesday to donate cleaning and personal products for flood-affected victims in Coraki.
Sandy, who owns Killarney Vintage & More, said that everyone needs help – she is no stranger to giving, having donated items during the 2019/2020 bushfire season as well.
“That’s just what I do – I hope the favour would be returned,” Sandy said.
She said the packages delivered to Coraki were personal need items, including toothpaste, deodorant, body wash, band-aids, necessary cleaning products, and three boxes of linen and clothing.
“It’s total devastation down there – dead cattle and destroyed homes,” Sandy said.
“It’s hard to describe unless you see it, it’s just horrendous.”
Sandy said she has personal connections to Coraki, which was part of her reasons for donating.
“It’s close to home, I used to holiday there with my kids,” she said.
Due to the extensive flood damage, Sandy said that volunteers are needed to help clean houses, among other jobs.
“They also need tradesmen and cattle people,” she said.
However, Sandy is not the only person helping out during the flood crisis aftermath.
Warwick school teacher Samirah Bahbahani set up a stall at Rose City Shopping World over the weekend to raise money for local flood relief.
Samirah said she teaches at SOTE and with the help of the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program (JYSEP), more than 100 cookies were baked for the stall.
“The Warwick community were quite generous and some people just donated without buying anything,” Samirah said.
She said Shayla, Mya, Willow and Liliana comprise the JYSEP helpers, alongside other supportive women in the community.
“I was looking at the news and seeing how people were being devastated and thought we could help,” Samirah said.
“We’ll have another stall in two weeks at CelticFest.”
Smaller donations of fodder can currently be left at the Allora Show Grounds.
Bill Burge from Tudor Valley Hay and Mike and Chris Collins from Collins Hay are organising the collection and transportation.
The community can contact Bill on 0428 713 562 to organise dropping off donations.
Bill stated that they have the authority to store donations at the Allora Showgrounds in conjunction with the Allora Show Society.
He said that for locals donating less than a full trailer load of hay, they can organise for it to go in a combined load.
Bill also stated that they are looking for higher quality hay for dairy cows, such as lucerne or cereal hay.
He stated that the floods have impacted dairy farms as much of their feed has washed away.
“Until they get more rain, it won’t wash the mud off the grass.”
He said the growth period had passed for any pastures, and this will be an ongoing issue.
The community will require feed for the coming winter to keep their stock alive.
Bill said they are looking into ways to take donations of fuel for the trucks going down, but are cautious about taking monetary donations.
Granite Belt Water Relief is also organising to take supplies of water to the Northern Rivers area, while Cav Insure on Maryland Street is working with Rotary as a drop-off point for toys to donate to flood-affected children.
In last week’s Ordinary Council Meeting, Southern Downs Regional Council discussed how they could facilitate helping the Northern Rivers region.
Mayor Vic Pennisi stated he has reached out to as many mayors as he could and was prepared to organise some sort of appeal.
“When the chips were down, our neighbours chipped in for us and it’s our turn to reimburse them with kindness.”
Councillor Sheryl Windle expressed that they should find out exactly what the community needs as she was aware the community had stated they did not need any more of certain items.
“I know that water is a big issue, I did have a phone call from a resident yesterday in regards to the help that we received during the drought with water and wondered whether we could return that by donating some water in some way to Lismore.”
She said she was sure the Mayor of Lismore would let us know what their greatest needs are.
Mayor Pennisi stated he had made contact and was expecting a call back.
Councillor Marco Gliori stated he thought this was a great way to reciprocate the support we have received in the past and a great example to the world of how we chip in when needed.
“This is a time when we need to hang up the maroon jerseys and the blue jerseys and remember we’re Australians first and foremost,” Mayor Pennisi said.
Councillor Cynthia McDonald stated, “in the spirit of being Australians we all get in and help each other in times when, exactly as you said, the chips are down”.
“We’ve been through five years of very very hard times and they do say when there’s a massive drought it takes a very large flood to break it.
“I think we are here in amongst that right now and unfortunately people at the other end of the spectrum are now suffering from the floods when we obviously endured quite an amount of difficulty with the droughts,” she said.
“Even our region now is suffering with the floods so if we can help other people, in the manner in which we saw the goodwill, that would be fantastic.”
Councillor Stephen Tancred stated that the sending of produce would fall back on Granite Belt farmers, and he knows how appreciative they were of the support they got from other districts.
“I’m sure that they’ll be generous.”
Councillor Ross Bartley stated there is a lot of connection between our region and the Northern Rivers, with a number of our community going to university in that area.
“In times like this, neighbours look after neighbours.”
A motion that SDRC investigates opportunities for support in relation to the natural disasters occurring in the Northern Rivers region was moved by Councillor Windle and seconded by Councillor McDonald.
A Council Spokesperson stated that although Council’s contacts at Northern Rivers will keep us informed of their needs as they begin the clean-up and recovery, current needs include:
• Cleaning materials
• Plastic sealed crates to keep clothing dry
• Fresh produce
Furniture and white goods will be on the needs list as people begin to return home.
The Mayor can assist businesses or individuals with the coordination and drop-off or pick-up of large donations to be received by Thursday 17 March 2022.
Locals can contact SDRC Mayor Vic Pennisi on 0412 909 882.
(BREAKOUT)
How locals can help
While the donation of goods is helpful, locals should be mindful of exactly what is needed.
Local Teilah McKelvey said last week that “in times of crisis we all like to dig in together, but it’s so important to ensure our donations can be taken and utilised.”
Elly Bird, the coordinator of Resilient Lismore, echoed this sentiment when she urged people to be considerate about what goods they donate.
The Lismore Government has urged those interested in helping to donate to the Lismore Flood Fund by direct bank transfer.
The bank details are:
Name: Lismore City Council – Flood Fund Account
BSB: 062 565
Account: 10864633
You can also donate money to the Echo Northern Rivers 2022 Flood Donation appeal by going to gofund.me/34d0f7b2
Food Relief Cook Up is also accepting donations to help them feed those affected by the floods. You can donate at gofund.me/4bd8679f
