Rural Aid assists on multiple disaster sites across Australia
Australia’s leading rural charity Rural Aid has this week deployed counsellors and volunteers to communities far and wide recovering from recent natural disasters.
20 volunteers are currently on Oxley Island, outside of Taree in New South Wales, where farmers’ livelihoods were thrown into disarray following last month’s floods.
The Rural Aid contingent is supporting dairy farmers who’ve been forced to protect their surviving cattle in small pens, due to hazards washed into paddocks by floodwaters.
The volunteers are cleaning up pastures, fixing fences, and conducting miscellaneous repairs.
A Rural Aid Counsellor and Works Coordinators are also helping with the recovery effort on Oxley Island.
Meanwhile, another Rural Aid Counsellor has returned to the Hawkesbury region, visiting flood affected farmers outside Sydney for the second time this month.
And a Rural Aid Volunteer is assisting the victims of Cyclone Seroja in West Australia, where primary producers are still facing a daunting clean up, more than two weeks after the cyclone made landfall.
‘Our hearts go out to all the Aussie farmers who’ve been dealt a tough hand by Mother Nature of late,’ Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said.
‘We hope the kind and caring Rural Aid team will make their recovery a little bit easier.
‘I commend the Rural Aid volunteers for the tough, physical work they are putting in this week. But one of Rural Aid’s most important roles right now is to be a listening ear for those doing it tough. It can be very powerful for farmers to see complete strangers caring so much for them.’
‘I thank all the generous volunteers who allow Rural Aid to do its important work,’ Mr Warlters said.
Rural Aid is encouraging farmers in need of assistance to register for financial aid and free mental well-being counselling.
Primary producers can register with Rural Aid here: https://faa.ruralaid.org.au/farmer-registration/
Donations to Rural Aid can be made at: https://www.ruralaid.org.au/donate/
For more information, give Rural Aid Media a call on 0447 116 757.