A total of 64 houses were lost in the Nambucca Valley fires and this devastating loss has been well reported. What is not reported as often however is that there were hundreds of sheds also lost.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For many, these sheds housed the tools they need to rebuild. The fact that the sheds are destroyed means they have nowhere to store any tools even if people have the financial capacity to acquire them.
The Rotary Clubs of Macksville and Nambucca Heads have worked together to establish The Nambucca Valley Tool Library - operating in the same capacity as a book library - to speed up the rebuilding of the communities houses, sheds and fences.
A shipping container has been provided which has been fitted out with shelving to be stocked with the inventory. Special software designed for operating tool libraries has been made available at no cost.
The acquisition of the inventory is complete as is the background work of entering everything into a catalogue, which will include an inventory of the more expensive items held, plus borrowers details, and will monitor lending of the more valuable items.
Other tools including cheaper smaller tools and donated used tools will be loaned on an honour system and not monitored by the computer system to keep administration as simple as possible.
Borrowers will be required to agree to the terms and conditions of the library and to sign a waiver in which they accept the responsibility to use all tools borrowed properly safely.
Loans will only be made for people undertaking rebuilding projects.
The Nambucca Valley Tool Library is expected to commence in early March.
Bushfire relief efforts
The Rotary Clubs have also partnered with the community to help those impacted by November's bushfires.
The Bushfire Benefit Concert held at Macksville Football Ground on Saturday 12 January was a community organised event pulled together by Bowraville's Dianne Potter and her friends and supported by Rotary. The Bushfire Benefit Concert raised $7,500 which was banked in the Rotary account.
Louise Welsh, a school music teacher at a Sydney School and who grew up locally, organised a school concert and through this and direct donations from her school's community also banked $7,500 with Macksville Rotary Club where her father, Kevin Welsh, is a past member.
The new owners of the Cubana Resort Nambucca Heads, where Nambucca Heads Rotary meet, have contacts in the Northbridge Rotary Club. That Rotary club conducted a fundraiser and deposited the $15,000 they made into the Nambucca Heads Rotary Club account.
A $4,000 Rotary Foundation emergency relief grant was also accessed which has been used for bushfire relief work. In addition an amount of $5,000 from previous Rotary community fundraisers has been directed to bushfire relief making an amount of $39,000 the total funds being used.
Rotary has taken care to identify ways to assist those who suffered loss in the fires in order to reach as many of those in need and to provide meaningful help.
Cheques totalling almost $12,000 have been sent to all people known about who lost their home to the fires. Comprehensive lists of people who lost homes are not readily available due to privacy laws, so Rotary went with the best list they could get.
BlazeAid has done an incredible job with reinstating fire damaged fences and Rotary has supported them with just over $12,000 to purchase tools, materials and catering for volunteers.
The remainder of the money raised is being spent through cooperation with the South Arm Hall Bushfire Relief work. The largest project is the tool library but other things supported include helping with the provision of portable toilets and an art therapy class being investigated.
