Thanks to a two-year Disaster DGR-1 (deductible gift recipient) status, granted to Northern Rivers Community Foundation after the floods hit in 2022, we have been able to support a grass roots organisation having a huge impact in Lismore.
The status was granted to NRCF’s Disaster Recovery Fund, following the flooding of 2022. This enabled the NRCF to collect funds on behalf of Resilient Lismore, a volunteer-led community organisation.
With this support, Resilient Lismore has been able to provide incredible support in and around its flooded community, as the lengthy process of recovery, rebuilding and resilience continues.
The grassroots group has delivered over $3.4 million worth of volunteer help get people back home and distributed millions of dollars of physical donations and financial aid directly to the community to address the poverty, trauma and mass homelessness left in the wake of February and March flooding of 2022.
Since the natural disasters, the volunteer-powered hub, based in an undercover carpark, has managed 13,835 deployments totalling 84,395 volunteer hours.
Addressing the challenges of the housing crisis
Resilient Lismore Director Elly Bird said the community-led effort was significant.
“The number-crunching, which has resulted in such a significant input into the community, is incredible,” Ms Bird said.
“We know it because we live it every day. This place has not stopped humming since impact.”
Ms Bird said the biggest challenge in Lismore’s recovery had been housing.
“We’ve had thousands and thousands of homes wiped out of our housing stock,” she said.
“We saw very early on how slow the government’s response was. We recognised that we have housing stock, it’s just damaged. So, we’ve been working hard to fix it because we know that if we can make homes safe, secure and warm, people can move back home.
“In terms of maintaining social cohesiveness, connection, and social fabric, it’s really important that people aren’t displaced from this community and displaced from the recovery support services that are available to them. So, by giving people the ability to go back home we’re also giving people the ability to stay connected to the community and to navigate this recovery journey together.”
The work of Resilient Lismore has focused on getting the most vulnerable into safe and secure housing. Their signature ‘Two Rooms” project, which restores walls in two rooms, has ramped up in recent months. Already more than 60 ‘Two Rooms’ families have been able to move back home.
Thanks to generous donations, Resilient Lismore has:
- Managed 13,835 deployments
- Provided wellbeing and grant support services
- Provided the only door-to-door outreach service
- Established a Tool Library, including generators and pressure cleaners, saving the community hundreds of thousands of dollars
- Provided essential building materials for vulnerable community members to make homes safe, secure and warm.
- Bought bulk mould cleaner
- Distributed millions in financial aid directly to flood-affected community through Givit, Red Cross, and Rotary donations
- Delivered practical workshops
The need is still great.
To donate to Resilient Lismore: https://shoutforgood.com/fundraisers/resilientlismore 