By Brendan Rees
Casey’s Beyond Disability volunteers have lent a helping hand to people of the bushfire-ravaged town of Mallacoota.
The not-for-profit group, which helps people stay connected in the community, recently donated 20 desktop computers to a youth community centre, families and high school students in the Mallacoota area, which had succumbed to flames in January as the sky turned a blazing red.
Beyond Disability secretary Peggy Stocks said the idea came about after one of their volunteers spent a week with Blazeaid repairing fences at fire-ravaged towns in Gippsland.
“In sharing experiences with locals it became apparent that one of the needs of victims, and indeed also some local non-profit organisations, was computer equipment to allow better processing of details and applications mainly associated with claims and recovery aspects,” she said.
“As a result, several contacts were made with organisations directly involved in bushfire recovery efforts.”
This led to volunteers making contact with a Gippsland representative of Givit, which is the Victorian Government’s official charity donation partner.
“BDI then went to work and by careful juggling of resources, 20 desktop computers plus associated equipment were fully refurbished and prepared for donation and delivered to one of Givit’s Gippsland distribution centres,” Ms Stocks said.
“The donation was very well received by Ms Lisa Herbert of Givit who will arrange for distribution to those victims and community centres Givit determines to be in need.”
The computers were initially gifted to Beyond Disability thanks to the generosity of companies and educational organisations.
Beyond Disability are volunteers who assist to bring housebound mobility disabled back into the community.
For more information about Beyond Disability, visit www.bdi.org.au or call 5977 6547.
