By Mitchell Clarke
In times of heartbreak, the community shines.
As Australia battles unprecedented bushfires, the community of Cardinia united, throwing their support behind those affected by the tragedy.
From financial donations to physical donations, messages of support and physical support, that sense of mateship will be felt by those in the danger zones, from victims to firefighters and volunteer organisations alike.
The Need for Feed disaster relief, an initiative of the Lions Clubs transported fodder to fire affect townships in East Gippsland and Corryong, but their biggest project came on Sunday 5 January, when they organised a convoy of more than 55 trucks and 20 vehicles and trailers.
The convoy, which grew during the journey, began at Officer BP and made stops in Traralgon and the Bairnsdale Livestock Exchange, before some vehicles went through to Buchan, Orbost and Gelantipy.
Need for Feed coordinator Graham Cockerell said affected farmers were thrilled to see the convoy.
“Obviously they’re just very grateful, they can’t believe that fellow countrymen are so generous, but we can,” Mr Cockerell laughed.
“We’ve been doing this a long time so we know that when it gets tough, everyone gets helping, it’s the Aussie way.
“We’re very grateful for our volunteers, because we’re trying to get a job done, we needed people to sign up and volunteer and they did just that.”
Need for Feed have been transporting feed since New Year’s Day and will continue to do so daily. More convoys are planned, setting out to the fire affected areas in time for Australia Day.
“We were originally going out to East Gippsland on Australia Day for the drought but now we’ll be out there because of the fires,” Mr Cockerell explained.
The organisation is urging the community to continue donating fodder and funds to assist with efforts.
“We need hay to get on trucks, we need support with funds and donations to keep putting fuel in the trucks,” he explained.
The Rotary Club of Pakenham made an initial donation of $5000 to the Rotary East Gippsland Fire Aid Fund.
The funds will be made up from the proceeds of an annual golf day in November, a community dance held on Saturday 4 and a Bunnings BBQ held on Sunday 5 January.
An additional $950 raised by further donations from the events will also be provided to the fund, with 100 percent going to worthy recipients.
Pakenham Cricket Club is also coming to the aid of bushfire victims, pledging $5 for every four adn $10 for every six hit by senior players in this Saturday’s round of fixtures.
After experiencing the horrors of bushfires in March, the Bunyip Fire Brigade was quick to show their support for Gippsland, organising a water collection day on Saturday 4 January.
“We set out to provide some support to the remote areas that have been devastated by the fires and utilised social media to gather some support,” Bunyip Fire Brigade community safety and engagement officer Simon Sharpe said.
“We expected to fill one semi-trailer, which is about 22 pellets of water, we ended up sending over 200 pellets.”
A mammoth response, the pellets equated to over 300,000 bottles of water, at a cost of about $80,000 being sent to the Sale RAAF Base.
“The Bunyip bushfires really drove us to do this because we got so much support back in March so it was just a great feeling to be able to give that back to the community,” Mr Sharpe added.
“It was a joint effort, there was a lot of people involved, people travelled far and wide to Bunyip.”
And far and wide they did, with some coming from as far as Mill Park to give their time.
“I was chatting to some guys up at Bunyip and they had come from Mill Park with two car loads of water and stayed to help load some trucks,“ donor Carol Clifford said.
Ms Clifford, from Beaconsfield, delivered pallets of water during multiple trips throughout the day.
“It’s what I do. I have helped organise a few things over the years for the local community.“
She said the response was so big that Beaconsfield Woolworths ran dry, completely selling out of bottled water, while Aldi wasn’t “far behind“.
Lakeside Residents Group president Wendy Andrews saw the Facebook call for donations and shared it to residents in the estate.
“It’s just amazing how quickly everything snowballed,” Ms Andrews said.
“We just felt a bit helpless, we didn’t know how to help, so when I saw this, I thought ‘we can do this’.”
Ms Andrews and fellow Pakenham resident Brijal Parikh opened up their homes which soon became flooded with donations of water.
She estimates about 200 slabs were donated by the community. Using the remaining profits from their Lakeside New Years event, a further 60 slabs of water were purchased.
“Everybody just wanted to help and do their part,” she said.
With the assistance of local organisations Southern 4×4 club, Gurdwara Siri Guru Nanak Darbar, Cardinia Gujarati Assocation, Goodstart Learning Centre and more, the water was transported to Bunyip.
Meanwhile, volunteers from the Pakenham Sikh temple (Gurudwara Baba Budha Sahib Ji) travelled to relief centres in Sale and Bairnsdale to assist in the recovery efforts.
Members of the group, who wish to remain anonymous, provided water and served freshly cooked curry and rice to bushfire victims and volunteers at the Bairnsdale Relief Centre.
“Rather than sending the help we thought it would be a good idea to take the stuff with us and help people on the ground,” a spokesperson said.
As the bushfires ravaged communities and destroyed livelihoods, tragically there has been loss of human life and it’s believed approximately half a billion animals have perished as a result.
Pakenham horse trainer and rider Ebony Tucker found herself involved in the fundraising efforts, working alongside a Drouin veterinary clinic to gather donations and assist injured animals, from horses and cattle to wildlife.
“I couldn’t not help, things just kept unfolding and now we’re here,” Ms Tucker said.
“I think everyone feels helpless and wants to help. It’s important things go where they need to. There are so many people doing amazing things.
“It’s a horrific, unfathomable situation. I just want to help any way I can.”
Ms Tucker has been instrumental in facilitating and collecting donations from the community and has approached Racing Victoria and Magic Millions for funding.
While financial donations can be made, medical supplies are also needed, such as burn creams and bandaging, which could potentially save the lives of injured and burnt animals.
“The ultimate goal is for vets to have money to treat injured animals for as long as required without it costing them directly,” she said.
“It’s obviously going to be a long road for recovery and a lot of time and money to treat correctly.
“If you’re feeling helpless about how you can help, giving supplies is a great way, or you can donate money straight to Animal Aid directly so they can order supplies to treat these poor animals.”
