Chip in for the South Coast bushfire appeal
From Macca at O&E:
This past week the bushfires have devastated the South Coast of NSW, Australia. Here at Ocean and Earth we were lucky that all our employees were safe and none lost their homes. We were also lucky that the factory escaped the fires as well.
However, many people in our community, family and friends, were not so lucky.
People have lost loved ones, homes, businesses, and now some people only have the clothes on their backs. Wildlife and forests have been completely destroyed and the fires still continue to burn.
The people of the South Coast rely on summer holidays for their income for the entire year and to get them through winter.
It should be the busiest time of the year for these local communities, but now it's a ghost town, with most essential services like electricity, fuel, and food scarce and major roads closed.
It really is heartbreaking for our community.
The South Coast people need your immediate help.
North Durras headland (Photo Josh Burkinshaw - @josh_burkinshaw)
Our aim is raise $100,000 through a gofundme campaign from the world surf community to disperse among the different locally-registered charity groups who are doing an amazing job getting these communities back on their feet.
We also want to donate to the Rural Fire Service which has been working for over a month to contain these fires and save lives and properties. Without the RFS many communities would have been totally destroyed, including ours. The RFS are all volunteers who risk their lives to save others. They are the true heroes of these fires.
Also, besides donating money, one of the best ways you can help these communities is to book your next holiday on the South Coast. It's a beautiful part of the world, with some of the best beaches, restaurants, hotels and activities.
Also please buy South Coast produce from your local supermarket and restaurants. If they don't have it, then demand it!
LET'S JOIN TOGETHER AS A SURF COMMUNITY AND GET THE SOUTH COAST PEOPLE BACK ON THEIR FEET!
Thanks from the entire team at O&E
Comments
Was actually thinking today while working to do a few days trip down that way once holidays finish, help pump a few $$$ into the area, every little bit helps.
i dont think $100,000 is enough. so much damage.
Onya Macca. I seen the aerials of Mckenzies just this morning.
Radio this morning said Elton John donated a mil and so did Hemsworth, and Pink did half a mil (presumably for Australia wide assistance). I'm sure there will be plenty more coming, well done.
Good work Macca. Hemsworth for PM. Hockey Dad and Tumbleweed doing a fundraiser at Windang bowlo. Great to see all who can do something are doing what they can.
Also dont forget about the animals ......donate Wires or Wildlife rescue etc.......
Got a week's holiday booked for mid Feb. Good on ya Macca...hope to share a few waves and spend some $$$ to help.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. We used to camp at Depot and surf places like North Durras etc all the time when we lived in Sydney. Depot Beach is literally my favourite camping spot on the South Coast. Such a beautiful bay.
I guess I know where I'll be spending my coin on my camping roadtrip later this spring.
I'm heartened to hear everyone pulling together.
I'll be back for a couple of weeks this year. We were gonna spend a few days in Sydney but we've altered our itinery and going regional instead.
I was speaking to the crew in Merimbula today. Just heartbreaking for everyone. Zero tourists, the 2 surf shops ( as previously mentioned in the forums, Simon at Merimbula surf shop is a ripper of a bloke, been there since i was a grommie, thats along time ago!) in Merimbula have 30 % discount sales just to try to get a sale. Restaurants are closed and i believe it is a real worry for the financial viability of many business's in the town. Please do your best to support.
The $$ impact these fires will have on OS tourism won't be known for a long time, but it's likely to be huge. I have OS relatives who think the whole country is on fire (because that's essentially how it appears). So anyone considering a trip to Australia in the short term will probably think "yeah, nah". And for how long? Probably many years.
Braidwood is really hurting as well due to the loss of Canberra traffic and us inland surfers. Kings Highway has been closed probably longer than any other road.
This sucks. Looks like a pile of South Coast surf trips coming up for 2020. I'm so stoked to see Pink, Elton John, Hemsworth, Ash Barty, Novak and Maria Sharapova, Ben Simmons and the NBL crew dig into their own pockets to help. I have only one beef with the fundraising (it's nit picking I know but it bugs me), organisations like the NRL, Tennis Australia, Cricket Australia make massive profits and could easily just donate a few million bucks each. Instead they do fundraisers - which are good but it just keeps asking for money from the average Aussie punter. I want to see those public figures and organisations that have made millions of the Aussie public donate some of their own back instead of raising it from us. I'm not talking about O&E and the like in this - I'm talking about the rich and famous.
Quick Edit - Twiggy Forrest has just donated $70m to the recovery effort - that's cool.
Great efforts.
Spent many, many years from Green Island area down to Bawley Point area. Wave rich area.
Many places will not come back from these fires for years if ever.
My question is does GOFUNDME keep a %?
for a $100 bucks they want $15.00 bucks for admin. its bullshit,
I hear ya bipolar. Then you also wonder what they do with the $85. Coz the people who took the 15 bucks for admin also get the choice how to spend the rest, and do they save some for the next disaster. Never seems to just be cold hard cash to the victims. People should keep helping. Would be good to have some advice on how to get the best bang for you buck. For example if you want to give cash direct to the victims, donate here, for the bush regen, donate here, for fauna stuff etc etc.
Where does it say they take 15%?
According to their site, they take 2.9% of the donation fee, plus $0.30. This is inline with most transactional costs (i.e. it's the same we are charged by our provider, when someone subscribes to Swellnet Pro).
GoFundMe used to take 5% plus the above transactional charges, but apparently scrapped this a few years ago.
Or are you talking about GoFundMe's request for a tip, where you can select between 5% and 15%, or "other"?