Kangaroo Island residents are still reeling from summer bushfires that claimed two lives, destroyed homes and other buildings, and decimated livestock, wildlife, fencing and infrastructure.
Kangaroo Island, Australia after devastating bush-fires during the summer of 2019/2020.
Kangaroo Island, Australia after devastating bush-fires during the summer of 2019/2020.© 2020 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Australia and further afield are giving a helping hand in the recovery and rebuild efforts.
Humanitarian donations from around the world will be used to purchase gift wallets for some Kangaroo Island families who are going through tough times. Each wallet will include vouchers for fuel, groceries and hardware supplies—making life a little easier for families, and also contributing to the local economy.
These gifts will be assembled by Latter-day Saint children and youth on Friday evening, 13 March, in Adelaide. The youth are planning on including a personal message of love and support to each family.
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Elder Ian S. Ardern with young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ipswich, Australia. 10 November 2018.
Elder Ian S. Ardern, Pacific Area President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with youth in Ipswich, Queensland who packed gift wallets and wrote personal messages for drought-affected families in 2018.© 2020 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kangaroo Island’s Council and its Mayor, Michael Pengilly, and the South Australia State Recovery Office will oversee the distribution of the wallets to families on the island.
In addition, the Church is donating four trailers loaded with fencing and clearing equipment to Blaze Aid, a volunteer-based organisation that works with families and individuals in rural Australia after natural disasters such as fires and floods.
The Church is also donating 10 semi-trailer loads of hay and 30 truckloads of water to Rural Aid, a charity that helps farmers going through tough times.
Pacific Area President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Ian S. Ardern; and Area Seventy Elder Paul Lekias will come to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island on 13-14 March to make the donations.
They will be accompanied by local Latter-day Saint leaders.
“These fires have been devastating, heart-breaking,” Elder Ardern said. “We are grateful for those individuals who donated to our church’s humanitarian fund, here and overseas, enabling us to make these donations.”
“Jesus Christ encouraged us and showed us how to care for each other. We all need some help from time to time. We hope, as a church and as a people, that we can continue to join with those of other faiths and other parts of society to be the means by which heartfelt prayers of those in need are answered.”