Coldstream CFA overwhelmed by community support in fire appeal

A simple Facebook post rapidly led to Maroondah Highway coming to a standstill in Coldstream after hundreds of people responded to the fire appeal. The turnout left volunteers “overwhelmed” at the community’s generosity.

A warehouse that Gruyere CFA used to store some of the donations was a hive of activity.

When Connie Dent first asked the Coldstream community for some donations for the fire appeal, she thought she was ready for what was to come.

But it was within an hour of posting on the Coldstream CFA Facebook page that she knew the two tables set up with a couple of volunteers on hand would not be enough.

“It went absolutely mental,” Mrs Dent said of the post, which was inspired by an initial call-out by Georgia Tyrrell.

“We had 100 shares and then 1000.”

Maroondah Highway was at a standstill as people queued to donate at Coldstream.

Finishing with almost 2500 shares and a Facebook reach of about 140,000, the wave of community support resulted in the Maroondah Highway turning into a standstill, with a 500m queue just to enter the Coldstream CFA carpark.

* FIRE APPEAL DONATIONS * Today we had a massive response from our amazing community who dropped off essential...

Posted by Gruyere Fire Brigade on Friday, 3 January 2020

Soon the brigade was calling for donations to instead be delivered to the CFA stations at Lilydale, Belgrave and Gruyere, such was the demand.

“It was absolutely amazing,” Mrs Dent said.

“We had people from Geelong, Essendon, Melbourne … from just everywhere donating.”

The semi-trailer convoy en route from Gruyere.

Donations for cattle were also part of the response.

More than a dozen semi-trailer loads and almost 1000 pallets later, Mrs Dent said she was “overwhelmed with gratitude” from the response.

“I can’t believe the response and generosity from every single person, it’s just astronomical,” she said.

“Everyone has just been amazing. All the helpers and volunteers — we are still getting people volunteering their time.”

The Coldstream CFA carpark was filled with donations.

The donations were all sent to Wodonga — a 750km round trip — where it is distributed to whoever needs it.

MORE: LITTLE SEPARATES CORRYONG BLAZE FROM NSW

KYLIE MINOGUE JOINS LONG LIST OF DONORS

MORE THAN 200 NILLUMBIK PROPERTIES AT HIGH RISK OF FIRE

While no more food or goods donations are needed, gift cards from IGA, Caltex, Woolworths and Coles as well as cash can still be given.

Anyone wishing to help is now being directed to vic.gov.au/bushfireappeal