Bushfire Victims and Firefighters receive overwhelming support from Wollondilly Community

As the Wollondilly community begins its recovery from the horrific fires that impacted residents during December, the local community have been rallying together with overwhelming donations of toys, food, toiletries, and more.

The Wollondilly community have been giving so generously that the Council, local RFS, welfare agencies and other surrounding LGAs including Wingecarribee, Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla and Bega Valley have now reached capacity and are no longer able to take any more donations of physical goods.

Mayor of Wollondilly Matthew Deeth said: “We want to thank everyone for their generosity and we will do our best to make sure all items donated are used to help the recovering residents of our community and other fire-affected communities”.

“To date we have also received donations and pledges to the Mayor’s Relief Fund totaling well over $300,000, so we’ve been able to directly support 78 Wollondilly families impacted by the fires through the distribution of a first round of immediate crisis fund payments.”

“I would like to thank the many businesses who have made such generous donations. Tahmoor Colliery, SIMEC Group have pledged a donation of $250,000, Bradcorp Holdings Ltd $20,000, Maronites Mission Australia $10,000 and $10,000 from The Acres. I would also like to acknowledge the many other community groups that have contributed to the fund including Picton Rotary $5000, Twin Willows Hotel $3,800 and the Veterans MC Sydney Chapter $2,300.”

Acting Chief Executive Officer, Toni Averay said: “We have been overwhelmed by our community’s generosity with donations of toys, clothes, food and toiletries etc.  We have distributed more than 1,000 toys to local families, and many food hampers and other essential items.  A big thank you to everyone who has donated.  However, we now have all the donations we need so we are no longer receiving donations of goods and would encourage people instead to contribute financially or to volunteer their time.”

A very special thank you to the Russell Vale community who arrived at Council with a convoy of vehicles and trailers loaded with bottled water, food, toys and goods for fire affected residents.”

If you would like to help with the recovery efforts the most effective way to do this is through volunteering your time or by donating money. Money gives those recovering the choice to buy things they need and supports local businesses that have also been impacted.

Please find below a list of places you can donate to:

Wollondilly Shire Council’s Mayor’s Relief Fund. All funds go directly to residents in the Wollondilly Shire. https://www.wollondilly.nsw.gov.au/resident-services/emergency-information/201920-fire-season-support/mayoral-relief-fund/

NSW RFS | www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade

WIRES | Donation Enquiries 02 8977 3396 www.wires.org.au/

The Red Cross | 1800 733 276 www.redcross.org.au/

The Salvation Army | 13 72 58 www.salvationarmy.org.au

Vinnies | 13 18 12 https://www.vinnies.org.au/