Jenan Taylor
2 May 2023
Members of a community nearly destroyed by the Black Summer bushfires turned out in droves to provide disaster assistance to migrant workers from Vanuatu recently.
The Cooperating Parish of Croajingolong came together for a fundraiser for 15 men whose communities in Vanuatu had been devastated by cyclones in early March.
Category 4 cyclones Kevin and Judy battered the Pacific nation within 48 hours of each other, and the area was also shaken by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in that period.
St Peter’s Mallacoota minister the Reverend Jude Benton said that the men who were living locally while they worked in the town’s abalone factory heard that their families, residences, crops, livestock and water supplies back home had been significantly impacted by the violent storms.
Ms Benton said that having been through life-changing disaster themselves, locals were keen to help the workers.
“As a community we are aware of how blessed we have been, and so I thought as a community we should respond to the plight of the ni-Vanuatu men and their families, and support them in prayer and finance at this time,” she said.
Read more: Despite times of trial, Mallacoota’s only minister soldiers on
They gathered donations and organised a concert with a music line up that also involved the Vanuatu workers and local talent, in mid-March.
In what turned out to be a festive event, close to 200 people packed out the small church and dug deep for the cause, Ms Benton said.
Overall, they raised more than $17,000, which included donations from a special offering service at St Peter’s, the church op shop and the bowls club.
Ms Benton said the workers were so moved by the parish’s efforts, they reciprocated by helping with a community garden and maintenance works at sister church, St John’s Cann River.
She said the whole experience had been joyful and of benefit to everyone involved, including the workers’ families in Vanuatu.
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