A quick little reflection on 2020 [thread]

As you well know, January was consumed by fire. By January 3, we had 30 volunteers and 4000 places listed with us.

The phones started ringing and didn’t stop. We housed a woman from Mallacoota with her dog, and a 74 year old man who had been living in a car. Then a family of 5 and their 2 dogs. And then we confess, we lost track for a bit. Dozens of volunteers answered phones for hours on end

By January 5, we had 6000 places listed with us.

Then the South Coast started becoming our main area of need. Requests came in faster than we could answer phones, and they became increasingly complicated. Large families, elderly people with detailed access needs, guinea pigs, and even thousands of cattle.

First Nations elders who wanted to stay on country found us, and we began to pivot. We asked if anyone could donate caravans and Twitter came through. We had caravans donated, filled, and relayed from Queensland to the NSW South Coast.

You chipped in for dozens of generators, allowing people to stay close to home and keep families together.

We managed to match people for indefinite periods in empty holiday homes and investment properties. Dozens of people a day were finding places to stay whether for a night or a year.

Our volunteers started sending messages like “are the cows grass or grain fed?” because they had become experts in cattle transportation.

By mid-January we had our most public request: a place for a 104 year old woman who lost everything. Together, we found her somewhere safe.

As accommodation requests kept coming, we kept filling them. But an increasing number of people needed support to rebuild their lives.

So, we turned to you. Together we raised money for families to buy furniture and white goods, cutlery, and bedding.

We paid local fire affected businesses to furnish places with money raised to make it double its impact.

Then we realised we couldn’t rebuild them all. But what we could do was find the little things that make houses a home. Together, we replaced lost musical instruments, collectibles, libraries, fishing rods, surfboards, bikes, and laptops.

Hundreds of you sent things from your own collections, purchased lost Christmas presents, and the things that just seemed so impossible for so many families to get back.

As March neared, and the fires began to subside, it became clear that the pandemic was imminent. After speaking with nurses and doctors living with immunocompromised housemates and family members, we re-launched Find a Bed. But this time, for empty properties only.

This proved a considerable challenge. We didn’t want to put anyone at risk by adding those who might have been exposed to other households and we realised the best thing we could do was to lobby state governments to provide housing for frontline workers.

And we won! State by state, Premiers made commitments to provide accommodation for those living with at-risk people.

I should say, it has always been our position that the government should’ve been better equipped to deal with the scope of the disasters this year. Whilst our volunteers happily helped during fires, floods, and the pandemic, it shouldn’t have been this way.

Our little team of volunteers accomplished so much. We’re proud of the things we did together. It was a heartening reminder that together we are so very powerful, and that kindness is the appropriate response to adversity.

But as we look forward, we hope that more systemic, well funded, and well resourced teams are able to make sure that all of us have somewhere safe to sleep, and still have this beautiful country to appreciate.