Head Over Heels was born around lunchtime yesterday so in the 24 hours I have launched my idea into cyber space, I have been inundated with offers of goods, offers to help with packing things up, offers to co-drive with my hubby on his trek to Queensland and many, many more generous displays of charity. We may not be able to physically get up there right now with a mop and bucket and gum boots to start phase 1 of the clean up but my objective is to work on phase 2 - the emotional rebuild which will no doubt hit home to those families once they have time to stop and reflect. As I have mentioned, my initial goal was a simple one - get some school shoes to a small family of 6 kids who lost the lot in the floods. As I considered more ways to help, I decided we would support their whole community - a little town called Graceville. This time last week, I had no idea where Graceville was. This week, I want to show them that a small community of people in Sydney care about them enough to want to do this for them.
So far, logistically, I have determined the following:
- Estimated Departure Day - we are aiming for Friday, 4th February as the day the boys load up the ute and trailer (and possibly bus now!) and start the 14 or so hour drive up north. As I mentioned, first priority would be given to cleaning up the mud and assessing the damage. This is why we are not making a mad dash up there just yet. Qld Schools are supposed to resume on 24th January however I am sure the teachers will spend much of that first week settling children back into a routine, to minimise the after affects of the events of the past fortnight. Having said that, we will give it a couple of weeks before we land in town with our donations. This also allows us to collect more donations in our first week of school as I have had many local families want to donate goods as well.
- Items we are after - shoes is our main priority. We would be very grateful for new shoes however no longer wanted school shoes and school sneakers that are preloved but in satisfactory condition would be wonderful. Any shoes, in fact, would be wonderful. I hate my kids roaming around bare feet at the best of times and the thought of those kids walking barefeet up there amongst the mud and waste breaks my heart. I understand that some preloved school shoes may have brushed toes and not be totally school worthy but they may be useful for knocking about in, remembering that some families have nothing left but the clothes on their backs. We are also hoping to provide school supplies - exercise books, old readers or books, pencils and rulers - anything to help the children settle into their first few weeks of school. We are also taking any type of clothing from babies to the elderly, brand new or preloved but in satisfactory condition. We do ask that you ensure preloved clothing is clean and/or washed and folded neatly. The same goes for donations of manchester or towels. Due to health regulations, we cannot accept used undergarments but would gladly take donations of brand new, still in packaging underwear if you wish to donate those. Brand new or preloved toys would be greatly appreciated too - my first thought was to make sure every child in the temporary accommodations had a teddy to cuddle at night so toys are also something that we will gladly accept. Other suggestions are home made first aid kits with bandaids, Dettol and hand sanitiser creams, soaps & shampoo or even simply tins of food.
- What to do to help: to help us save time in sorting clothing sizes we ask that you simply package up your donations by size and gender. For example, kindly bundle up clothing, shoes, toys, toiletries etc and label it in a bag saying "7 YEAR OLD BOY" or "ELDERLY LADY" etc. If you cannot do this, that is OK too - we will have some volunteers on hand to help us the week before to sort miscellaneous bags of donations however anything that makes our job easier, would be much appreciated.
- Drop Off Address: We are in the process of clearing out a secure shed at our home in the Hills District Rural and until we have done that, we ask that you hang on to your donations for the time being and I will email drop off details in the next few days. If that is not convenient, please email me and we can make some alternative arrangements. I am also hoping our school will allow me to pick up donations from there daily when school resumes and I am also waiting to hear back from the local newspaper as they may have somewhere secure for you to drop off as well. If anybody lives in the Hills and has a large, secure area available for immediate use and they don't mind us using it for drop offs, please email me, as the sooner we stockpile and sort, the sooner we can work out additional transport requirements -I have a feeling the ute and trailer aren't gonna cut it! I appreciate your patience - as I said, our project is only a day old and we are so overwhelmed and overjoyed at all the interest we have already received that we are still in the early planning stages.
- Notes from the Children - my six year old daughter Gabriella was my early motivation to do something for Queensland as she asked so many questions about what was going on. She came out from her room the other day with a card she wanted to send to a child which simply said: "Dear friend, I'm very sad for you because you have mud in your house. From Gabriella" With it was a little drawing of a boy and girl and a smiling sun, her way of showing that she cared. I thought it may be a lovely gesture that if you have children or grandchildren, please feel free to get them to make up a little drawing or card to go in your care packages, as I am sure this will help put a smile on a child's face to know they have a friend in Sydney thinking of them.
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