The Australian bushfire crisis

As news of Australia’s bushfire crisis makes headlines around the world, many colleagues, customers and friends have contacted us to share their concern and offer support and well wishes.

The Sunshine Coast (where our head office is located) experienced several severe bushfires late last year—thankfully no one on our team was directly impacted, except by smoke.

The landscape is slowly recovering at Peregian Springs on the Sunshine Coast after a severe bushfire in late 2019.

We are a long way north of the current bushfire crisis in NSW, Victoria and South Australia, but it’s a distressing and challenging time for many Australians, whether we’re in the path of the fires or not.

Typefi is supporting the bushfire relief effort with financial donations to several organisations and causes.

WIRES

WIRES (Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service), based in NSW, is the largest wildlife rescue organisation in Australia, with over 2500 volunteers.

Already suffering from the worst drought in history and record high temperatures, NSW has been hit hard by this season’s catastrophic bushfires, with an estimated 800 million animals affected to date and approximately 5 million hectares of land burnt.

Although WIRES is a NSW-based organisation, CEO Leanne Taylor said in a statement that “a National Emergency requires a national response”.

“The allocation of donations received by WIRES will be used to assist as many animals as possible across our nation,” she said. “We can and will allocate funding and support to all states and territories where needed to assist animals affected by this crisis.”

Australian Red Cross

Australian Red Cross is a member of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, a global humanitarian network of 80 million people that helps those facing disaster, conflict and health and social problems.

All funds raised by Australian Red Cross since July 2019 are going directly to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund, supporting victims of bushfires and other Australian disasters.

This includes on the ground disaster services (evacuations, relief centres), immediate financial assistance for families who have lost homes and loved ones, and longer term support and recovery in bushfire-affected communities.

“More than 2000 Australian Red Cross staff and volunteers have been and are providing around the clock support to communities impacted by the bushfires,” said Noel Clement, Director Australian Programs, Australian Red Cross.

“We know from our long experience in disasters that recovery takes time and effort. We are committed to working with communities to shape how these funds can support them.”

Magda Szubanski’s fundraiser for ongoing mental health support

Magda Szubanski is a respected Australian actress who is active in the community. She was nominated for Victorian Australian of the Year in 2017, and in 2019 she was appointed an officer (AO) in the general division of the Order of Australia.

Magda has teamed up with Will Connolly to raise funds for long-term mental health support for bushfire victims.

“Australians are a very resilient people, but I hope we can be resilient in the right ways and that this does not turn into denial of our feelings. Especially for those who have suffered the most,” Magda said in a Facebook post.

“This is horrendous trauma on top of drought on top of hardship. My father taught me a Polish saying: Even Hercules is afraid when confronted with too many enemies.“

Organisations chosen to receive support from this campaign will be announced as decisions are made.

Thank you from Typefi’s Aussie team!

On a personal note, we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has reached out to us—it really means a lot!

Typefi’s Aussie team (L-R): Andrew, Chandi, Baz, Morgaine, Ben, Shanna, Sue, Michael, and Dinesh.

View the original post on the Typefi website: https://www.typefi.com/australian-bushfire-crisis/