Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund’s committee will extend its support to the most vulnerable of Morwell residents whose health has been affected by the smoke.
Committee deputy president Lynda Bertoli said while historically, funding had been distributed to people whose property had been destroyed or damaged by disasters, the “catastrophic” effects of the mine fire had led the committee to help those affected in other ways.
“We’re making some donations to three agencies that are working directly with the most vulnerable and affected people and those agencies are providing material goods and counselling,” Ms Bertoli said after a committee meeting on Saturday morning.
Ms Bertoli said the decision to financially assist agencies already working in the Morwell community was made to avoid the confusion of adding another agency to the many that are providing support.
“We think that it’s much better for us to give funding to those in the best position to disperse it to the people affected by the smoke,” she said.
She reminded residents that GERF’s 2014 Gippsland Fires Appeal was ongoing and any donations made to the appeal would be dispersed to residents affected by the Latrobe Valley fires or the fires in East Gippsland.
To make a donation visit
www.relieffund.org.au
