PICK MY PROJECT – The Bushfire Foundation Inc

View Street, Kangaroo Flat VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA info@thebushfirefoundation.org

VOTE FOR THE BUSHFIRE FOUNDATION INC’S PROJECTS AND HELP US TO SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY

Our Foundation has Four Fantastic Worthwhile projects that have been selected as part of the Victorian Government’s PICK MY PROJECT Scheme, For the voting Round and we are asking for support through votes to get our projects out there into the community and to also receive enough votes to hopefully help us get the projects selected and receive much needed funding support.

Voting is quick and simple, and open until 5pm, Monday 17 September:
Register for a Pick My Project account. at https://pickmyproject.vic.gov.au/ If you already have an account, simply sign in.
Select your local community by entering your suburb or address. You can then browse the project ideas in your local community and create a shortlist of your favorites.
Pick your three favourite project ideas from your shortlist and verify your mobile number. You’ll then be able to submit your votes.

Our Four Projects are as follows:

Connections Community Garden – Building a Fire Wise, Sustainable, Organic, Community Garden.

Quarry Hill is a suburban area with a diverse range of people. It has a high number of young families along with an ageing community. It has been identified that a community garden would assist in supporting the community on multiple levels. To achieve these goals, we would need to develop and build the infrastructure needed for the project.

The site of the proposed Community Garden has the ability to draw from all areas of the community and assist in building connections between multiple groups as it sits within a hub of schools and community facilities. A Community Connections Garden would support the diversity of the community and build relationships by offering an opportunity to spend time with others in the community and sharing skills. We have several groups that have shown strong support for this project and wish to support the development of connections within the community through gardening.

Home Bushfire Preparedness Program -Preparing those in the community who cant prepare themselves.

This program is designed to offer assistance to residents in the community that are unable to prepare their own homes for reasons such as they are elderly, injured or in financial hardship by offering assistance with Bush Fire Preparedness works such as:

Gutter – Cleaning and Clearing
Tree and Shrub – Trimming or Removal
Grass and Vegetation Management
Fire Break Construction and Management
Vehicle Access Points
Inspection of Firefighting Equipment
Reducing any other Risks or Hazards Associated with Bushfires

Our programs are aimed at assisting residents in the community such as people in financial hardship or who have physical difficulties (such as short term injuries or long term injuries), elderly residents, people with a disabilities. Therefore the overall community benefit is that we are helping these people to improve and prepare their homes and properties when they could not previously. This helps to improve the safety of the community and improves the overall preparedness and will hopefully reduce the risks and or the effects that a bush fire may have if it was to occur in there area.

Animal Disaster Relief Food Storage (Food banks) – Providing food and water storage for disaster relief purposes.

Animal Disaster Relief Food Storage (Food banks)
The Bushfire Foundation has identified a gap in the assistance of food and water supplies for stock and domestic animals during and post natural disasters. It has come to our attention that while most communities have some strategies to assist in the very short term more needs to be done. We hope to establish Victoria’s first dedicated animal food bank to address this gap.

The Dedicated Animal Disaster Relief Food Storage ( Food Bank) will encourage community engagement, skill building and training, social interaction and support for all stakeholders and cohorts. While many natural disasters cause great financial hardship and can tragically result in loss of human life, animals are often forgotten in the chaos. Domesticated animals, dependent on human caretakers for survival, are often left to perish during these events. This loss of domesticated animals is preventable in a majority of these disasters if food and water is provided quickly. This will reduce the loss and costs to the communities affected.

Community Animal Relief Teams (CART’S) – Teams of Volunteers to Provide Animal Welfare Support in Disasters

The Teams of Volunteers will work in our community supporting our local Emergency Service Agencies when there is a disaster such as storms and fires to provide support and assistance to members of the community who have animals on their properties or as pets. The teams will offer transport services of animals to help relocate them, before and after a disaster if required, they will also assist and deliver water and food supplies to animal owners that require this after a disaster to assist with the animal welfare on their properties. They will help animal owners to prepare their properties.

This project will benefit the community by setting up a support network and dedicated community teams to support animal owners in communities when disasters strike. It will provide the necessary training and equipment to deliver a high level of support to all community members. It will have the added benefit of developing new skills sets for team members . These skills will be needed in order to grow the Community Animal Response Teams ability to effectively deliver support to the community. These skills training will be transferable to broaden employment opportunities.

Make sure you share who you’ve voted for with your family and friends.

CAST YOUR VOTE BELOW