THE organisers of the Vanuatu appeal and collection centre at the Narooma Plaza shopping centre have been overwhelmed by the generosity of local residents.
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Bev and Jim Wilkinson opened the collection point upstairs at the Plaza last week after hearing about Cyclone Pam only weeks after they themselves visited Vanuatu on a cruise.
The collection point remains open until Easter Monday and is accepting goods of all kinds from clothes and books to seeds to restart market gardens.
Dropping in a box of goods containing books and blankets from the Narooma Preschool on Wednesday was Rachael Haynes.
Rachael and her husband lived in Port Vila about six years ago when he worked for ANZ Bank on the islands and was also the president of the local Rotary Club.
They still keep in contact with friends and are getting the latest news on the aftermath of the cyclone.
“They say it’s horrific and the islands are unrecognisable,” Rachael said.
“A lot of locals have lost their jobs as the hotels and resorts are closed, they are so reliant on tourism.
“And the mammas who sell food in the markets don’t have anything as all the produce was wiped out.”
Manning the collection point each day are Jim and Bev Wilkinson, who previously collected goods for the flood appeal for the Lockyer Valley and also for the Boxing Day tsunami some years ago.
“We’ve been amazed by the generosity of the people of Narooma and people really seem to care,” Jim said.
They’ve had the smallest donation of 50 cents from a pensioner all the way to much larger cash donations, and lots of lots of goods, including canned food, clothes and books.
Both the Big 4 Narooma Easts Holiday Park and the EcoTel Motel have donated linen and other items, as both have recently renovated their accommodation.
Narooma resident Otis Wilga did his bit for the local Vanuatu cyclone appeal busking outside Woolies downstairs from the collection point, raising $394 that will help with shipping costs.
All the goods are now being boxed up and piled onto pallet for shipping up to Sydney and then on a container ship to Vanuatu.
“All being well, it all needs to be up in Sydney so that it can go over by container ship on April 16,” Bev said.
Local Batemans Bay based transport company Tattam Express has agreed to get the goods up to Sydney and this week dropped off four pallets.
The driver reckons they will need six more pallets, making it a total of 10 pallets worth of goods that have been donated and just about enough to fill a shipping container.
Also helping out are the volunteers from the Narooma Uniting Care Drop-In Centre, which has also donated funds for Rotary Narooma to secure two shelter boxes for Vanuatu, as well as for any additional unseen costs.