[LISMORE, 17 March 2023]:
Resilient Lismore today welcomed Labor MP Janelle Saffin’s $5m funding commitment towards its locally-led disaster recovery program.
Resilient Lismore works to provide people with safe, secure and warm living quarters while the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation works to deliver its programs.
The funding will help expand the work Resilient Lismore undertook with the Reece Foundation most recently restoring essential plumbing, supporting 71 households; and its Two Rooms project to re-sheet two rooms per household supporting 72 homes with a further 60 underway.
Through the generosity of local partners the Lismore Catholic Diocese, the Winsome, Joel Jensen Constructions, and external partner the Reece Foundation, Resilient Lismore’s community rebuild work is tracking at around 3800 completed jobs.
Comments attributed to Elly Bird, Resilient Lismore:
“Our systems, our people and our partnerships are all in place and this additional funding
commitment would allow us to ramp up our work and to help more people.
“We are grateful to the Coalition Government for the support we have already received which has enabled some of our operational capacity for the last six months.
“We are committed to working alongside whoever forms Government, to continue to support the people in our community that need our help.
“Recovery should be locally-led which is what we are doing, and we are grateful to Janelle Saffin for recognising the importance of our work and for her ongoing support over the last year.”
Comments attributed to Ipsita Wright, Executive Director, Reece Foundation
“The Reece Foundation welcomes the Labor Party’s commitment to supporting this important initiative that will help see more flood survivors move back into their homes and live with the decency they deserve.
“With Resilient Lismore’s community-led approach and the power of the trade community, we look forward to working collaboratively to get the job done.”
[ENDS]
Media: Luke Prendergast (E: P: 0405 559 420)
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About the Program
The Two Rooms and a Bathroom pilot showed that Resilient Lismore and the Reece Foundation have the capacity, structure and technical ability to deliver essential rebuild work for more homes in the Northern Rivers but the cost of that work is so significant that government resourcing is required.
Resilient Lismore, its partners and the Reece Foundation are prepared to make substantial
contributions to support the recovery efforts in the Northern Rivers, however, the gap between the organisation’s collective resources and the estimated total cost is significant.
While it is estimated that conducting the same project at arm’s length commercial rates would cost upwards of $5 million, the social costs of not providing basic sanitation and food preparation facilities are potentially even greater.
About Resilient Lismore (resilientlismore.org.au)
Resilient Lismore is dedicated to making a significant contribution to locally-led disaster response and recovery efforts in the Northern Rivers, following the February 2022 flood events that left hundreds of residents displaced.
First formed in 2017 to support residents in the wake of tropical cyclone Debbie, Resilient Lismore is now providing outreach and access to support services and coordinating skilled tradespeople, labourers and volunteers to help rebuild the region.
In July 2022, Resilient Lismore launched the Two Rooms Project which involves volunteer teams rebuilding rooms in some of the most vulnerable and severely affected households in the region. Their data shows that Resilient Lismore has managed more than 13,800 volunteer deployments to more than 3,800 community rebuild jobs and have delivered Two Rooms to 72 homes so far.
Thousands of homes are still so significantly water-damaged that they should not be lived in. However, many people have little choice but to remain in these homes despite the removal of walls, bathrooms and kitchens for safety reasons.
The Reece Foundation
Recognising the vital impact access to clean water and sanitation can have on quality of life, Reece Group, Australia’s leading supplier of bathroom and plumbing products, established the Reece Foundation in 2021 to provide access to clean water and sanitation to communities at risk of poor health and wellbeing outcomes due to poor hygiene.
The Reece Foundation connects skilled tradespeople with communities in need to help enable access to clean water, sanitation, water irrigation facilities and hygiene education. It identified Lismore as a community in need of the water solutions it could provide.
Find out more: https://www.reecefoundation.charity