Australian fire relief

Ceramics
#1

I know this is not ceramics related… But I am so saddened lately for the loss in Australia right now and over the past few months. I cannot even fathom the loss of wildlife especially, around 500 MILLION animals so far. I am just wondering if there is anyone who would like to help me organize (as I have never organized this kind of thing before) some sort of fund to donate to an organization trying to help stop the fires and save the people and animals affected. I just want to help them somehow… I don’t know if any of you have seen any of the heart wrenching videos and pictures coming from there… You probably shouldn’t. I have asked a potter friend who is in Australia, Sarah Connor, which would be the best, legitimate, fund to donate to. She said there is a fund that was started by Celeste Barber, a comedian in Australia, who is “in the thick of it.” 100% of her proceeds are going to the fire brigades fighting the fires right now.

Do you think we should do a gofundme? Or is there a better way? Any input is appreciated. Thanks…

#2

Just donate directly,
Doing a go fund me or other service introduces unneeded cost and in worst scenarios an opportunity to be scammed by those running the go fund me. Not saying you would do this, but it has happened with major efforts to misappropriate donated funds.

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#3

This is what I’ve read as well. Donate directly to the fire brigades, that’s the most effective.

Edit: https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade

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#4

What do you think is the best way to get the word out there to ask people or get the word out there about this organization?

#5

I was just trying to come up with a way to accumulate money to give them… Maybe a ceramics sale/event of some sort?

#6

Hmm, I think your best bet would be to get with whomever handles public relations at DMS(unsure who that is). I’d assume they’d know what route to take. Ideally it would involve other committees, i’d think laser and creative arts could do some great stuff towards signage/awareness for donating.

#7

Thank you… It probably would be better to skip the comedian and give straight to the source.

#8

@apparently_weird JJ is the PR Coordinator

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#9

So this site shows that apparently a lot of these fire fighters are volunteer?! I know that should have been obvious, but it didn’t occur to me… Apparently the government is offering them payment to continue their efforts and reimburse them for their losses. I feel like this is even more of a reason to send them money!

#10

The best way to get the word out is to do something. I don’t believe you need the approval of JJ, not saying he can’t help. But, throw an event at DMS if you want to promote it, that would be my suggestion. @uglyknees has done similar many times.

#11

Christy I will help you in any way I can. Just let me know what you need and I’m there!

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#12

Yeah, it’s really bad. Which is why they recommend donating to the fire brigades directly. The PM put out a donation link Saturday and it was to his own party, not relief efforts.

#13

I have also donated to this organization: https://www.wires.org.au/ Who are needing money to buy the medical supplies to help the animals… I just wanted to put them out there too…

#14

Christy, thank you for bringing this up. Being on the other side of the world, many of us don’t think about how we can assist. We definitely can reach out on social media to bring awareness. If DMS as an organization wanted to start a “hat” for members to donate and then give directly to another charity I think that would be a great thing. I agree something like a gofundme on behalf of a charity may not be the best for a number of different reasons. Another option would be to quickly pull together a “bake sale” that we can promote where proceeds go to relief efforts.

@Nick is correct, as PR Coordinator, nothing has to be approved by me. However, the more that actually is run through PR, the more standardized it can be and makes DMS look better in general.

Just let me know how I can help, and I’ll be glad to shuffle things around.

#15

I now agree that we should not use a gofundme account to collect money, I have never done anything like this and that just popped in my head as to how people collect for charity… But it would be dumb for people to go donate to an account like that when they could in fact go directly to the source to donate… I mainly just wanted to get people’s help in thinking of way to collect money/raise funds to give to them. If nothing else comes of this, other than making people more aware that they can help by even just giving $5 each… I will feel like I have helped in some way. I wish I had a lot more to give myself, but unfortunately i don’t have much. And I just want to help them. This is so devastating to me. 500 animals is devastating to me… And to think its 500 MILLION!? I cannot wrap my head around that. They need to stop those fires. :worried:

#16

It’s always so hard to know what to do or how to do it.
I would find A person or A school AN organization or AN animal facility and research and see how you can make an impact to that particular person/location. That way the enormity of all the problems doesn’t overpower your drive to help.

I’ve seen things rolling around on Facebook crafting groups about sewing/knitting pouches/mittens…things of that sort link It wouldn’t take much to organize something like that here - and I would think you could gain quite a bit of community support with supplies gifted to the cause. Just an idea.

Other ideas would be to reach out to a maker space and ask how you (and you in turn get makerspace members to help) can help them help the surrounding community.

You’re a good person

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#17

Thanks for doing this, I have family in NSW and every little is helping the emergency services!

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#19

Because you don’t know me, I can understand why you don’t automatically trust me… Haha, clickbaiting… If only you knew how frustrated I was just to do the damn title this morning, with the stupid 15 character minimum requirement. The title wasn’t that important to me, it was just trying to get someone to help with ideas for getting people to donate to this cause… I don’t want to even deal with any money directly. So thank you for the suggestion.

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#20

Just saw this. At least it’s a credible source highly unlikely to be a rip off.

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#21

If you do a bake sale along with the gift table, I’m happy to bake cookies and brownies.

I have 3 empty coffee containers that would make good donation jars that I’ve been saving for something like this. When people donate, we can total it and buy a debit card or something to send the donation online.

Somewhere along the line, I was invited to an Aussie marketing Facebook group. I can ask folks there what is the best way to help.

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