End of the Line – Containers for Good

Allan received this email from the people of Quaama:

Allan,

So many people shook my hand and congratulated me on this exercise- I assured them it could have not happened without the cooperation of Weston Creek Men’s Shed, and in particular you as their driving force.

It has been a very fruitful and interesting exercise and a great community rebuilder at a most critical time.

So, please pass on all our sincere thanks and gratitude from the Quaama and wider community.

Don , Kym and Lydia

Container Team for Grandparents Treasure Chest

Report and image: Don, Kym and Lydia
Last of the Containers-for-Good being cleared out by the people of Quaama

For those that weren’t aware of the Containers for Good program, which is what we called it at our end, here is a brief outline:

The scheme came into existence after the extensive bushfires on the South Coast of NSW. In a nutshell, a container was found followed by some funding. The container was shipped to Canberra, to the Weston Creek Men’s Shed. At the time there were large amounts of donations being received, which, due to the calls for help to the public for donations of useful items, soon became a flood. That first container was soon chock-a-block and arrangements were made to ship it back to Quaama. So here we have a situation where there are whole communities that have lost absolutely everything , and into that community lobs a container stuffed full of all kinds of household items, tools, building materials, you name it, it was probably in there. Yes, even the ubiquitous kitchen sink. Don and his team arranged a clearance day and ensured that the items were dished out to those that needed them. That container lasted a half day before it was empty! The people on the South Coast were delighted, as we were at WCMS knowing that we could help in such a practical way.

Meanwhile a second container had been found and shipped back to the WCMS, and we gladly filled it as well. And another. and another. In all seven containers-full were sent to the people of the South Coast, and in the end, people in need were coming from as far away in Victoria to see if they could get something to help them through the darkest of days..

Sadly, all things must come to an end, and as the original funding and subsequent funding dried up, the scheme had to come to a close.

But a brilliant well-done to those that conceived the idea, those that made it happen and those that had enough humanity to fund it.

Report: Brian Black