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Helping the helpers
Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann
While police worked long hours for days on end during the bushfire disaster, community groups and businesses generously supported them along the way.
Hundreds of extra police flooded fire-affected areas of Victoria’s east and north east, keeping people safe and helping with the recovery efforts.
Residents and organisations in these areas went out of their way to express their gratitude for the work of the emergency services, displaying the best of country kindness and community spirit.
Bairnsdale Police Station was the local hub for hundreds of police working in East Gippsland during the fires, and local pie producer Patties Foods had taken notice.
Site manager of Patties’ Bairnsdale plant Michael Hall said the business helped fuel the police efforts by temporarily providing the station with a large pie warmer and plenty of pies and sausage rolls.
“Quite often the people who look after us can be the ones we forget, so we wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case with the police,” Mr Hall said.
“The last thing we want the police to have to worry about while they’re working so hard is how they’re going to get some food while on the go.”
Bairnsdale RSL was also getting behind the recovery mission, giving meals to all emergency services personnel.
The town of Corryong benefitted from the generosity of Warrnambool Central Rotary Club on the other side of Victoria donating $2,000 to the eatery Maccas Takeaway to cover the cost of giving away free coffees and milkshakes.
The shop’s owner Louisa McFarland said they used generator power to open in the days after the fires affected the small town.
“The police we’ve had out here have been such a great team of people, and there are so many,” Ms McFarland said.
“We just want to thank the police and other emergency services who have come up and helped us out.”
At the other end of the generosity spectrum, global oil giant Esso donated the use of two of its oil rig supply ships and their crews to care for people stranded in Mallacoota.
From ships to sausage rolls, it all made an important difference.
