Rotary club raises $500,000 in flood recovery cash

THE Rotary Club of Goonellabah has celebrated a major milestone, having raised $500,000 to rebuild and repair flood-damaged homes in the region.

The group committed $300,000 to 10 residents who have used the funding to have local contractors rebuild bathrooms and kitchen areas.

The overall project has seen 64 people repair key parts of their home.

Brian Henry is the flood recovery committee manager for the Goonellabah Rotary Club and helped launch its Prepare to Make Livable initiative.

“At our first meeting after the flood, we saw that the immediate needs were well handled, so we focused on the long-term strategy,” Henry said.

“We raised $5000 straight up, which was later matched by other rotary clubs where we ended up with about $80,000.

“At the same time we were talking to some local benefactors who were happy to come on board.

“A combination of two local benefactors, the rotary organisation and the Bendigo Bank got us to $500,000.”

The project began to take shape in 2023 with smaller works of up to $5000 completed with the assistance of the Lismore Catholic Diocese and local soup kitchen.

The focus shifted to larger scale projects once people were properly moving back into their homes.

“We realised there was a bigger picture here where people needed money to build new bathrooms and kitchens,” Henry said.

“So, we decided to commit to 10 significant projects of $30,000 for each home to have work done and help get it back to reasonable living standards.

“We’re quite chuffed with the amount of work that’s been done and we couldn’t have done this without other support.”

Henry said Resilient Lismore and Joel Jensen Constructions completed the work on the larger projects.

The Rotary club hosted a morning tea in Lismore recently to thank the local businesses and community groups involved.

“Joel Jensen Constructions are such good operators, it’s unbelievable. One of their guys was early for a job and he ended up mowing a lady’s lawn while he waited,” Henry said.

“They don’t ask for recognition, but they should be really proud of themselves.”