Help in any way you can
Every donation, big or small, every hour of volunteering and every donated food or clothing item can – and will – make a difference to those in need.
“OUR neighbours’ houses, the three behind ours and our house have been completed demolished. We were only left with the clothes we were standing in.”
(Cecily and Roger Parris, Conjola Park)
“We looked at the devastation and it was terrible, just like a war zone … We had a shop on the ground level and a unit above … We had lots of trees around and there was absolutely no chance of saving it.”
(David and Leah Wallace, Mogo)
Homes destroyed, property and possessions reduced to ashes, members of the Jewish community have been among the thousands of Australians counting the cost of the devastating bushfires that have ravaged the landscape in recent weeks.
In NSW, the Gold Rush Colony historical theme park, owned by Maureen Nathan, has been wiped out. In Victoria, with fires approaching, hundreds of children were evacuated from a Chabad Youth camp.
As both the human and wildlife death toll rises, and as huge swathes of the country continue to burn, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) on Tuesday night urged “every member of our community to help in any way that they can”.
Highlighting a NSW community campaign run by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and Stand Up, a Victorian communal fundraising initiative supported by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, and noting Stand Up was coordinating bushfire relief donations for other states, ECAJ president Jillian Segal said, “Like all Australians, Jewish Australians are utterly devastated by the destruction caused by these bushfires which are of an unprecedented scale and severity.
“The loss of life, property and wildlife, the displacement of thousands of people, the long-term ecological and health impacts from loss of habitat and dangerous air quality, the peril to and loss of life of our heroic volunteer firefighters and emergency services, is a national tragedy that we must all confront.”
Many within the community – both individuals and organisations – have already risen to the challenge, both raising and donating funds, and organising collections of vital supplies for those on the front line.
As 2019 drew to a close, philanthropists John and Pauline Gandel led the way donating $1 million to help fight the fires and assist those impacted.
Some from within our community, meanwhile, are giving more than just donations. Putting their lives on the line, they are among those incredible heroes bravely battling the blazes on the front line.
“The flames were up to 70 metres high. In 30 seconds, you were running for your life,” recalled Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteer firefighter Noel Kessel, who served in Buxton late last year alongside firefighters Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer, who were killed when their truck rolled as they tackled the fire.
Fellow NSW RFS volunteer Joshua Todes told The AJN how evacuated residents often leave letters taped to their front doors, thanking the firefighters and expressing their appreciation. “Seeing these letters and then their homes destroyed, that really hit me hard.”
Lamenting the millions of native animals killed, he added that the sight of wildlife losses are “gut-wrenching to see”.
But it’s not just the firies on the front line. Victoria Police Sergeant Rowan Epstein was sent to Cann River, Gippsland to help out. And with a small Country Fire Authority (CFA) unit of just a few men, and the fire direction changing straight for the town, he and his colleagues were ready to get on the hoses.
“The hardest thing was not knowing,” he said. “We’re not firefighters, we don’t know how they move. We didn’t know what was going to happen.”
With the tragedy continuing and no end in sight, The AJN echoes the call of ECAJ for members of the community to do all they can.
In the words of John and Pauline Gandel, “Every donation, big or small, every hour of volunteering and every donated food or clothing item can – and will – make a difference to those in need.
“Now is the time to come together, to show our community spirit and to face this great challenge with compassion and empathy for those fighting the fires and those affected by fires.”
comments