Bairnsdale Baptist Church have been working hard since the fires hit. Youth leader, Geoff Freiberg, has been leading teams clearing up some of the properties that were devastated by the fires. He has also been co-ordinating efforts to determine the other immediate needs. The physical needs are varied. Some have lost everything, many have lost fences (livestock are wandering), others have had all their electrical goods destroyed by power surges, and the list goes on. Where possible the church team assign a case officer to work with each family to work through the needs, look at the place of insurance, as well as the place of government funding and other agency contributions. This means they are able to co-ordinate their efforts with other agencies such as Blaze Aid and Rotary, thereby determining how their help is best utilized where the needs are unable to be met in other ways.

However, it is the generous, caring and servant-oriented spirit in which it is being done that contributes to the deep and lasting impact as people deal with the emotional and mental anguish that is a significant part of the trauma in these times.

These stories of help and assistance are your stories. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our Baptist family, the local church communities are able to serve in ways that would otherwise not be possible. 

“We just want to say thank you so much to our BUV family. With the bushfire relief funds being provided we feel hugely empowered to help our community recover from these terrible fires.   It is such a privilege to be able to be God’s hands and feet in such practical ways in service to those impacted by the recent fires.  We can’t thank you enough.” – Geoff