“I’m here at Lismore Helping hands Hub. This group came together a few days ago because a lot of the volunteers from the Bentley blockade thought there was a good need here that wasn’t being met and that was to put all the willing volunteers in contact with all the people in desperate need. This sprang up a few days ago and we are totally winging it now. There’s a great computer system here that we are all still learning. As it develops we realise how valuable it is. We have an enormous list, hundreds of jobs, hundreds of volunteers and we can put them together reasonably clearly but not always.
Out of this comes some amazing stories. The first day we had a fellow whose house went under water and he was just desperate. He was a mess. He had an anxiety disorder anyway regardless of the flood problem. We took a team out there and gurnied the mud out, swept and cleaned. We made a bedroom and a kitchenette functional again so that he had a cave he could retreat to. He came in here yesterday just to say I’m over the hump now, I felt like I was drowning. So many people who are coming back in saying the same. I think we are actually saving lives. People are feeling that someone is interested and giving them a helping hand.
It’s a fantastic feeling here because it’s just run by volunteers and a lot of the other government services are coming here as they can see what a hub it is. It’s a place where people who need help can come and actually do something as well. It’s not just victims getting handouts. It’s people who need stuff but can also give back at the same time. Everyone’s feeling cheerful and empowered. We are in this most desperate of circumstances with hideous stories of people alone, frightened and filthy but we are able to get out to them slowly and help them. It’s a really inspiring thing.
We had a man with 9 children and he lost everything. It had all gone. The day after he came in wondering what he could do to help his kids a truck load of materials, beds, sofas, clothing, all sorts of goods arrived from Tyndale and the truck driver wanted to give it away. His little community had gathered all this but all the agencies were saying they couldn’t take it as their warehouses had gone under. We were able to hook him up with the man and his 9 children. The truck driver went there and the man could take his pick of what he needed.
We can offer anyone, people who were previously homeless or now homeless, volunteers or whoever can come here and get a free feed, free coffee. Sky Laundry were here for 3 days working late at night. It’s a very interesting feeling, a bit like the Bentley Blockade except the big, bad horrible thing has already happened and it can only get better. With Bentley we all knew this dreadful thing was coming. Now we know what we are working with and we can get through it. It’s a very similar feeling though having the whole community on side, no-one against it.
Despite how awful it is there are very few whiners. There has only been one person in particular who has had lots of help and she’s whinging about not getting enough. She’s the exception. Everyone else is amazing, taking just what they need and no more. There is so much food being given and at first there were hampers being made up but we realised that wasn’t good because you might get cat food and you don’t have a cat. Now we group it in boxes so people can choose what they want.
We have tradies, electricians, plumbers all putting their names down to volunteer their services. We know there are still people out there in trouble. We suspect there are houses we haven’t got to yet, who haven’t put stuff out the front, still inside and still wet. There’s so many good people, everyones good and everyone’s doing the best they can.
There has been so many young people coming to help. They need some sort of certificate I think, something to put on their CV later. These kids actually did something. People are always quick to criticise young people for not caring but these kids are fabulous.
The SES has a tent centre out at Wollongbar and they produce lunches everyday and dinners at night. A lot aren’t eaten so Hugh my husband and a friend got onto this. He has been collecting them for the food van near Lindcraft to hand out but they’ve actually found someone else who can take the hot dinners and snap freeze them to give out as well.
On top of that there’s a new change of SES personnel every 3 days so that is a new set of brand new, high quality sleeping bags and pillows which then just go to the dump. Hugh and Samantha from SES have managed to set up a system where all those things go to the Soup Kitchen where they are crying out for sleeping bags. It’s such a great feeling. It’s very heart warming seeing how we can pull together, what we can do when we are all in it together. We can do miracles.”