Material donations to bushfire victims cause logistical nightmares

Mr Ferguson, who previously headed the Victorian Country Fire Authority and the South Australian Country Fire Service, said that after the 2009 bushfires, the Victorian government had to provide $8 million in additional funding to help non-profits sort and allocate donated goods.

“Australian generosity in times of giving and sharing in hard times is admirable, but right now we have got to be practical,” he said.

Mr Ferguson said giving money to local organisations and non-profits gave the local community and small business a kick-along. “It also empowers people who have lost everything … to buy stuff they want to the standard, and in the size, they want.”

The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, has also urged those wanting to help during the crisis to give money rather than food or other goods.

Prefacing his comments by saying he didn’t want to seem ungrateful, Mr Andrews said there wasn’t the warehouse capacity, the people or the time to sort through. “It’s really important that those donations stop because they are diverting resources away from firefighting and providing support to those who are in real need.”

Donations came in the truck load after fires decimated the three small villages of Buxton, Bargo and Balmoral on Sydney’s south-western edge, taking 30 homes.

“It’s pretty much ground zero,” said Kerrie O’Grady, the president of the Picton branch of the Country Women’s Association. “There’s not much more [the fires] can do to us.”

Donations of new and used clothes and goods have filled the Balmoral Village Hall and seven shipping containers. Potential donors have been put on a “hold” list.

“I’ve had an army of my Picton CWA ladies and other volunteers who came in for four days to sort through three to four tonnes of clothing. All of it is now sorted by size, by gender, by winter …, by pants … into bedding and linen.”

Donations ranged from “clothes with price tags of $250 to $300 still on them” to “disgusting stuff I wouldn’t put my dog in”, Ms O’Grady said.

“I say to [donors], ‘If you wouldn’t give these to your best friend, don’t give them to my fire victims. They’ve already had a kick in the guts, they don’t need a kick in the teeth.’

“We are now at the point where we don’t need any more donated goods.” Ms O’Grady is urging donors to give to the NSW Rural Fire Service to support a local fire brigade.

St Vincent de Paul Society NSW chief executive Jack de Groot said financial donations to its BushFireAppeal allowed it to be more responsive to those in need.

“With an influx of material donations, the logistics alone are often very difficult. The cost of transport and storage is something that charities struggle with at this time,” he said.

In Balmoral,  Ms O’Grady said demand had been slow, which was to be expected “because people are so extremely traumatised”. Others felt guilty or embarrassed to be seen taking charity, she said.

Farmers whose properties have been razed may take some time before they seek help or donations, because many are too busy now looking after stock and repairing fences and pumps.

Ms O’Grady said some organisations including Khalsa Aid, founded on Sikh principles, donated nearly $3000 to fund shelves for the containers.

The Canada Bay Men’s Shed had donated new tool boxes. “We want chainsaws. We want tools, hoses and fittings, metal rakes, work boots, gift vouchers and gloves – not silly gardening gloves, but serious gloves,” she said.

The local feed-store Derks Produce donated $2000 worth of vouchers for farmers. “There’s nothing left (for animals) to eat, it is all black.”

“We had a gentleman give us $5000 worth of fruit on Christmas Eve, so that was a logistical challenge,” Ms O’Grady said. The donation included bananas and other fruit, including nectarines.

Her solution was to get “the girls” from the CWA to make jam. “Some of the people who come here, they had fruit trees and they all say, ‘Oh, I lost all my jam’.” Others are making banana bread and cake.