Euroa FoodWorks co-owner/operator Courtney Hamill processes a $1000 donation.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Euroa’s two locally owned and run supermarkets, Burton’s IGA and FoodWorks, are accepting cash donations from people who want to help fire-affected members of their communities.
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Both IGA co-owner and manager Tim Burton and FoodWorks co-owner and operator Courtney Hamill said customers had been asking how they could help since last week.
An official system was set up this week, allowing people to make the donations in person or phone them in.
FoodWorks reports outpouring of generosity
As The News waited to chat to Ms Hamill at FoodWorks, she accepted a $1000 donation over the phone.
She said just a few hours into officially inviting donations, there had been around 15 donations at her store, averaging around $100 each.
“One woman camped in the area over new year’s and came in here to buy an ice-cream; she has called to donate,” Ms Hamill said.
She said the cash donations weren’t truly reflective of the outpouring of generosity, having witnessed many customers in store step up to pay for other customers’ groceries at the checkout.
People who couldn’t offer money offered other services, such as house cleaning, personal care and caravan use.
“McPherson Wines have donated boxes of wine. Some people could use a drink,” Ms Hamill said.
Ms Hamill, whose own horse property at Ruffy was razed by fire on January 9, said she and her husband and store co-owner, Bernard Hamill, had faced fires in the past but hadn’t been hit directly before.
“It was just our time this time,” she said.
The couple have a home in Euroa, but fought to defend their Ruffy stables and horses in challenging conditions with constantly changing winds last week.
“The fires came hard from three angles,” she said.
She said thankfully all of the horses survived, along with a machinery shed full of machinery, which contained temporary stock fencing that was now being accessed to help neighbours who needed it.
Burton’s IGA staff also personally affected
Retail assistant Colleen Noye, storeman Peter Noye and Euroa’s Burton’s IGA co-owners Tim and Glen Burton.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
IGA co-owner and manager Tim Burton said distribution was difficult when so many places were still cut off.
“We had a man in this morning who’s been cut off since Thursday; he was only able to get in today (Monday),” he said.
Elders in Euroa is co-ordinating grocery drops simultaneously with feed drops for livestock.
Isolated or affected people call to request the things they need — basic staples, toiletries and sanitary items being the most common — and staff and volunteers then go and shop at the stores, booking up the bill to the donation fund in the store.
The IGA has also partnered with Trelly’s stores to get ammunition out to Ruffy and Gooram for necessary livestock destruction.
And, when customers impacted have come in store with only the clothes on their backs left after the fire, Mr Burton said the store had helped re-clothe them.
Many of the supermarket’s staff had been off work defending and cleaning up their own properties.
Others still working in store have lent their ears to listen to heartbreaking stories told by customers needing to debrief.
“Sometimes all you can do is give them a hug,” retail assistant Colleen Noye said.
Mrs Noye’s husband, Peter Noye, a storeman also at the supermarket, and their daughter are both volunteers with local fire brigades.
“My daughter said it’s the scariest thing she’s ever seen; the wind, the flames,” Mrs Noye said.
She said many firefighters had been working up to 16-hour shifts, getting two hours of sleep and heading back out to face the fires once more.
Mr Noye has fought fires for 45 years, but said this one, due to the wildly unpredictable wind, was the worst he’d seen.
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