Community Story: Aaron Nimmo
Disaster Relief Australia (DRA) responded in the community of Rosedale left devastated by bushfires in 2019. Many residents lost houses, sheds, stables, fences, stock and the clean up efforts are ongoing. There are stories that pull on your heart strings and bring you...
Community Story: Brendan and Deb Clarke
Brendan Clarke and his wife Deb are one of the few District Coast locals who lost everything, including their home in the Deepwater Bushfires that swept through the region in late 2018, early 2019. They had initially stayed to protect their property and thinking it...
Feeling of accomplishment – Sean
I am a civilian currently on deployment with DRA on Operation Dexter – Wave One. Yesterday, the DRA Strike Team and I attended a property in the Rosedale community that was affected by both floods and bushfires. The owner also has several health complications...Reflection – Bec – Operation Dexter
My name is Bec and I’m from the Brisbane DRT (Disaster Relief Team) . I am a vetaran who served in the Australian Army for 15 years. I was discharged in Dec 2018, nearly two years now. I grew up in country Victoria on a large grain farm where I am one of six children....
Reflection – Natalie Heller – Operation Dexter
I am an Environmental Engineer, a mom to 2 very rambunctious boys and a wife. I am Canadian / American, and I moved to Australia 2 months ago. After coming out of quarantine, I needed to find something for me to do. I saw some information in regard to SES however they...Recent News
With ACT in lockdown until at least October 15th, the need to distribute food and hygiene boxes to ACT residents in isolation is critical. In response, an innovative ACT Food Drop solution has developed between Disaster Relief Australia and Volunteering ACT. Small teams of Disaster Relief Australia volunteers are delivering 80 boxes per day to vulnerable members of the community. The first 9 days saw 800 boxes delivered to over 600 houses. ACT residents in need Many ACT residents are in isolation as a result of being identified as a close or casual contact of a positive COVID case. As a result, many members of the community are unable to shop for groceries. This is further impacted with reports of traditional “click and collect” services getting overwhelmed resulting in significant delays and cancellation of orders. Disaster Relief Australia is a volunteer workforce able to rapidly deploy disaster relief teams in the wake of natural disasters. Despite the many challenges of operating in a COVID-19 environment, during the first six months of 2021, DRA has deployed multiple large-scale operations across Australia. DRA members are skilled over a range of disaster recovery capabilities such as chainsawing, debris management, access restoration, aerial damage assessments, fence repairing, sifting and community resilience building. ACT based DRA volunteers step up With more than 50% of their volunteer workforce in lock-down, DRA is now forced to seek out new pathways to bring help where it’s needed most. ACT DRT (Disaster Relief Team) Manager, Michael Young says “I am proud of our ACT-based volunteer workforce who didn’t hesitate a moment in offering their time to ACT residents in lockdown. This year they have assisted bushfire affected communities in Eurobodalla and Bega Shires and then flood-affected communities in the Mid North Coast of NSW. COVID has greatly affected our ability to help where it’s needed most. This initiative has come from an organisiation wide desire to be innovative about where and how we deploy our volunteers.” COVID-safe The logistics behind the COVID-safe operation have been well considered. ACT Government’s Community Services Directorate have established a warehouse at Exhibition Park (Canberra showground), where DRA loadS up each morning before starting the food drops. Each day is carefully planned, with routes for each vehicle carefully optimised in planning software to ensure the drops are as efficient as possible. The plans are uploaded to Google maps, giving each vehicle a map with waypoints for each drop, making it simple and easy to follow. All deliveries are contactless and in accordance with strict COVID guidelines.
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A new Ritchies Card loyalty program allows you to fundraise for DRA whilst you shop at participating Ritchie’s IGAs found in NSW, VIC and QLD. Since the Ritchies program began in 1993, over 150,000 people have signed up and $51 million has been raised for community groups, clubs and organisations. How does the Community Benefit program work? When joining the Ritchies Card program you are given the option to nominate your favourite club school or charity (known as Recipients). Each time you scan your card (either physical card or electronic card in the App) when making a purchase at any of our participating stores, the total is recorded to your chosen club, school or charity. At the end of each month, Ritchies will pay your chosen club, school or charity .5% of the total accrued directly into the Recipient’s nominated bank account* You can choose Disaster Relief Australia on the Ritchies App as your favourite recipient! Every month, our organisation will receive 0.5%* of our members’ spend in Ritchies Stores PLUS our members will receive special offers and member-only specials via the App. More information Read the terms FAQS Locations Victoria News South Wales Queensland
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