Links to legitimate organizations for donations to help the Australian bush-fire crisis.

Jan 29, 2020 | A day in my life, Blog

I have had lots of emails from friends and customers overseas asking if we are OK and asking where they can donate to help the victims of the Australian bush fires. My family and I have NOT been affected and I feel so lucky that we have only had a small fire in our area that was under control in hours. Here in Tasmania we have been very lucky this season but I have this vivid memory of the Tasmanian fires a few years ago as it horrified me that people had to run into the sea to escape the fires! I used to think that we would stay and defend our house if a fire threatened but after seeing the homes destroyed and lives lost, I realise now you have very little chance against the forces of nature.

Bushfires-2020

As locals we can easily donate when we do our grocery shopping, at banks and post offices but for people overseas wanting to help, the frustrating thing is there are scammers taking advantage of the situation.

It’s hard to believe in the face of so much suffering, there are people who will take advantage of the plight of others! So it’s really important to donate to a legitimate organization so you know that your contribution will actually get to help those affected by the fires – both people and animals. So I have put some links here to legitimate organizations for donations to help the bush-fire crisis:

Donate to the firefighters:

Donations to the Rural Fire Service directly benefit the volunteer firefighters on the frontline.

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/about-us/fundraising

https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/supporting-cfa#donate-cfa

Donate to organzations helping the people affected by the bushfires:

The Australian Red Cross – is accepting donations to its Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund, which has helped to send 1,285 staff members and volunteers to communities affected by the fires and to provide support to displaced people.

https://www.redcross.org.au/news-and-media/news/your-donations-in-action

The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) have set up a Disaster Resilience and Recovery Fund to support communities affected by the ongoing bushfire crisis.

https://frrr.org.au/cb_pages/supporting_bushfire-affected_communities.php

The Salvation Army – The Salvos have launched a disaster appeal to support the communities affected by the devastating bushfires.

https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/donate/make-a-donation/donate-online/?appeal=disasterappeal

Australian Red Cross – The Australian Red Cross have launched a joint disaster appeal with the ABC to support the communities affected by fires.

https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate

Donate to wildlife organisations:

WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc.) is Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organisation.

https://www.wires.org.au/donate/emergency-fund

WWF – The World Wildlife Fund have set up a “Help Save Koalas” fund.

https://donate.wwf.org.au/donate/koala-crisis/koala-crisis?t=AP1119W03

I have also been blown away by the number of my customers who have emailed me to say they are sewing toys to sell to raise funds for their donations. This is a wonderful thing to do and thank you to you all – you know who you are – for this kindness. If anyone is wanting to sell toys to raise funds for donations and you haven’t got my free Honey Teddy Pattern please check out the Funky Friends Factory ‘Billion Bears’ Charity Drive.