2020 Shine Awards Grace winner and finalists
Nymboida market gardener Georgia Foster Eyles made sure no one in her community was be left behind after last November’s horror bushfire, and for her efforts has been named the 2020 Shine Awards Grace winner. Read her story, and meet Grace finalists Nea Worrell and Bridget Bentley.
2020 Shine Awards Grace winner
Georgia Foster Eyles, fire recovery volunteer, Nymboida, NSW
BEACON OF HOPE
WHEN bushfire roared through Nymboida on November 8 last year, it destroyed homes and lives, and left both the landscape and locals deeply scarred.
But it lit a flame in Georgia Foster Eyles that still burns brightly.
The young mother runs an organic market garden in the Northern Rivers village with her partner, Tommy Welham, and their daughter, Maisy, 2.
Immediately after the blaze, she stepped up as an unofficial recovery co-ordinator and spent the following months devoting much of her time to helping residents who had lost everything and were too shell shocked to know what to do first. More than 80 houses were incinerated in the small Clarence Valley town of 300 people.
Georgia counts her family lucky because their home didn’t burn.
“I really haven’t considered myself to have lost much in comparison to what everybody else lost,” Georgia says. “We had only been running for a year and a half, so didn’t have 30 years of infrastructure and buildings … We are just looking at what we can do to help others rebuild.”
The day after the fire, Georgia launched a fire-survivors Facebook page, so people could let others know they were safe. From there, she started liaising with charity groups and nearby community hubs, which were inundated with donations.
“They were just overloaded with clothes and food, but nobody could take those things yet because they didn’t have anything set up for themselves,” she says. “I was hoping to direct more of those supplies, and the goodwill, towards what was needed on the fire front, which were pumps and generators.”
She made sure donations were distributed equitably; connected people with the relief and recovery aid; set up working bees and community meetings; helped organise a tool library so people could start to slowly rebuild.
Many of the residents, including Jennifer Spencer, did not know where to turn in the aftermath. Jennifer says Georgia showed amazing strength and made sure no one was left behind.
“Georgia is so energetic and selfless and treats everyone with dignity and respect. She has such a clear vision for what needs to be done and is level headed and kind, even when under pressure,” Jennifer says.
Help has slowly reached the town, with charities lending people converted shipping containers and sheds to be used as accommodation. But Georgia says it is still going to be “a year, or two, three or four, before people actually have houses again”.
She stresses that she is just one of many people who put their hands up to help.
There’s no doubt, however, that her calm leadership helped her community through their darkest days and makes Georgia Foster Eyles a deserving winner of the Shine Award for Grace.
FINALIST
Nea Worrell, drought pantry co-ordinator, Baradine, NSW
TAKE STOCK TO SURVIVE THE DRY
GREEN paddocks around Baradine are a sight for Nea Worrell’s sore eyes.
After years of soul-destroying drought, the crops can’t grow quickly enough for 72-year-old Nea, who helped hold the Central West NSW community together as co-ordinator of the CWA-organised Baradine Drought Aid Pantry during its operation from July 2018 to March this year.
“The town is still doing it tough, until we get a harvest. But we live in hope,” says Nea, who set up the pantry in the town hall on short notice when the “Doing it for the Farmers” social media campaign inspired hundreds of city residents to deliver supplies to towns in need.
Nea whipped into action, turning the hall into a pantry and forming a committee to co-ordinate distribution.
“One weekend we did 90 hours to unpack stuff,” says Nea, who rears sheep, cattle and crops with her husband Gordon. Margaret Williams is one of the concerned city residents who delivered donations to Baradine, and was “in awe” of Nea’s efforts. “She is an inspiration to so many in her community,” Margaret says.
Convincing locals to accept the food and essentials was another problem Nea tackled.
“When we went out asking who needed help, we got the usual, ‘I don’t need it, so and so needs it more’,” Nea says. “We eventually got them in. Then they’d tell us about other people.”
For her, the pantry’s biggest accomplishment was the grassroots mental and emotional support it provided. “It really brought the city and the country together,” she says.
FINALIST
Bridget Bentley, Bendigo Foodshare manager, Bendigo, Victoria
BENDIGO’S BRIDGET IS ONE IN A MELON
WHEN Bridget Bentley started her new job managing a food charity this January, she had little idea a global catastrophe was about to unfold.
Her mind was focused on the opportunity that Bendigo Foodshare presented; a chance to help feed local people who were in need.
When coronavirus hit the nation in March, it caused a huge spike in demand for Foodshare’s services. Meanwhile, panic buying caused a dramatic drop in supply of food supermarkets had available to donate.
The mother of three didn’t flinch. She stepped up to the task, managing hundreds of volunteers who joined the Bendigo Foodshare team after the pandemic started to destroy livelihoods.
Bendigo Foodshare collects food that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it through charities, community organisations and schools.
With Bridget confidently steering the ship, the team worked tirelessly to put food on tables across central Victoria.
“One of the important things through all of this, and also looking forward … is always be true to our core objectives and core values and if we do that I don’t think we can go wrong,” she says.
“That is about sourcing food and getting it out to people who need it and to do that with the community’s support — that we are part of the community and need the community to operate and survive.”
She spearheaded initiatives to encourage local people to support each other. She also championed fundraisers including Cafes for COVID and Bendigo’s Biggest Takeaway, which paid local hospitality businesses to cook meals that went to people in need.
“All of the community connections are what keeps Bendigo Foodshare going and has kept myself and my colleagues going. It is inspiring,” Bridget says.
MORE SHINE AWARDS
2020 SHINE AWARDS WINNERS AND FINALISTS: BELIEF, COURAGE, DEDICATION, GRACE, PASSION, SPIRIT
MEET THE 290 RURAL WOMEN NOMINATED FOR THE 2020 SHINE AWARDS
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