How you can help Central West NSW flood victims
Top: the town of Eugowra inundated by flash flooding Bottom: The Central Hotel, the hear of Eugowra.
Photo Credit: Fire and Rescue NSW, Matt Reid for ABC News
You might have seen on @thebranddance Insta during the week a post where I reflected on the heaviness of the week gone by as some of my family lost everything in the recent floods in Central West NSW. See the post here.
As I said in the post when you live far away from a place where events like these happen it’s easy to feel a little removed from it all. That’s not the case for me this time….as my parents and extended family are from this area so I know these places and the faces that live there, very well.
The unfathomable images on the news of people you (usually) don’t know being rescued from their roof by helicopters, hoping they were OK, were my cousins. My Grandmother, Uncles, Aunties, cousins and their kids live in those worst effected areas of Eugowra, Molong and Forbes and they have been the people you’ve seen on the news. Thankfully, that’s how we’ve seen that in the absence of power and phone lines, that they are safe.
Eugowra especially has been ravaged with 90% of the town now gone. An ENTIRE town, the place where my family would travel to, to spend every second Christmas was completely devastated in the space of 24 hours.
There are currently official charity venues being set up and these towns, the people, their businesses will really need all of the support available. Thankfully they are currently at capacity for donations of physical items but are desperately in need of monetary donations. If you are in a position to do so this festive period, here are 3 ways you can help:
Givit link, set up in partnership with the NSW Government, to help the relief and rescue efforts for Eugowra who need it most.
The Orange Ex-services Club are taking donations over the phone (02) 63622666 where they are distributing vouchers to locals they know need it
You can get around local businesses like Farmipix Photography who are donating portion of profits from their products (I’m getting one of these calendars for my Mother In Law, she uses one each year religiously!)
My cousin Jodie sent me a message saying how incredibly supportive the community has been and how much progress has been made in just a week. The optimism from locals might just be slowly coming back. But if you are travelling through this area over the festive break, consider stopping in at one of these towns to say hello, grab a coffee or a beer. Sure, it’s hot as heck out there in the summer months and not everything will be back to ‘normal’ by any means, but these towns are charming and filled with great people whose day you will make great by even the smallest show of support. It will definitely be worth it.