Australian Bushfire Crisis – you can help!
As many of us watch images of the bush fires raging across Australia, it can feel incredibly overwhelming and create feelings of helplessness and despair. As young Active Citizens, this is the time that we often turn that negative feeling into a source of energy and drive, and say ‘What can I do to help?’
The JCI Australia team have received a number of messages from our colleagues and friends across the JCI network around the world asking what action they can take to help support those impacted by these catastrophic fires, and who continue to watch and wait as they continue to burn.
In situations as significant and far-reaching as this, many people have stepped up to raise money and create campaigns to support the victims , while there are many charities and campaigns, we have selected the following to recommend as points for support if you are looking to make a financial donation to assist in this time of crisis.
The Australian Red Cross:
We have created a Campaign Page for donations that will be paid to the Australian Red Cross to support with their efforts in the affected areas via their Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.
Their program provides support in the following ways:
- Supporting people at evacuation centres and recovery hubs
- Psychological first aid to reduce trauma
- Emergency assistance (including cash grants to people who have lost homes in these bushfires)
- Longer-term recovery programs in disaster-affected communities
- Essential costs like transport, office space, finance and IT systems
- Supporting our volunteers and covering their expenses
- Helping families and communities prepare for disasters
You can find more information from the Australian Red Cross resource centre on how to help on their website.
To show our collective support as an organisation, we have created a campaign for donations made by the entire JCI family (both local and international). Your donation however small or large will have an impact for these communities.
If you would like to make a donation, you can do so via our “JCI – Australian Bushfire Support” campaign page.
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While there is a drastic impact to the local communities, and lives of local residents, we also understand that there has been an unimaginable loss of wildlife as these fires have consumed over 4 million hectares of land in New South Wales alone.
In light of the sheer size of the land devastated by these fires, you can imagine that there is a significant loss of life for animals in these areas. Further still, the surviving wildlife faces a bleak fate with the loss of habitat, food, shelter, and the reality that these shortages are likely to be long-term as the impacted areas slowly begin to rejuvenate.
With this in mind, we know that there are many people throughout the organisation that would prefer to make a donation to support the care and rehabilitation of these animals and their homes.
WIRES – (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc.)
- WIRES has been rescuing and caring for native animals for over 30 years.
- They have over 2500 volunteers in 28 branches involved in the rescue and care of wildlife, and
- Have a dedicated Rescue Office that operates 365 days a year assisting the community to help native animals in distress.
The team at WIRES have been helping to rescue and care for the innocent victims of these fires and recent drought.
If you would like to make a donation, you can do so via our “JCI- Australian Wildlife Support” campaign.