WE ARE THE COMMUNITY-LED FLOOD CRISIS OPERATIONS BASED IN MULLUMBIMBY.

WORKING WITH COMMUNITY, FOR COMMUNITY, PART OF COMMUNITY.

Currently we are partnering with Engineers Without Borders Australia on the Northern Rivers Flood Recovery Engineering Support Project for residents of the Northern Rivers. Read more about this here.

What began on 1 March 2022, on the front steps and inside the Mullumbimby Civic Hall as a community mobilisation channeled the community response into a rapidly evolving, multi-faceted critical operations network — as sophisticated and strategic as it is organic and heart-felt.

We became an agile network of over two dozen highly passionate and skilled team leaders who connected with dozens of other community and stakeholder groups, hundreds of volunteers, servicing thousands of people. Operating within and supporting the township of Mullumbimby, nearby isolated communities (including Upper Main Arm and Upper Wilsons Creek/Wanganui/Huonbrook) and, when requested, villages and rural areas across the Northern Rivers up to around 50km from Mullumbimby.

Coordinating these operations was voluntarily taken up by HHUG's co-directors, Ella Rose Goninan and Luke Jaaniste on the first days of the flood in late February 2022 and their tireless full time efforts still continue on as Head of Operations. Initially it was agreed that these efforts would come under the banner of Resilient Byron (of which Ella Rose Goninan was co-Chair at the time), and then in early April 2022 the Community-Led Flood Crisis Operations in Mullumbimby were handed over to be formally hosted by HHUG, the not-for-profit association that runs Renew Fest, an annual regenerative full system change festival held at the Mullumbimby Showgrounds.

Since mid April 2022 fundraising has been managed by HHUG with their DGR (tax deductibility) status auspiced by MullumSEED. As part of the offical hand over of these operations to HHUG, the crowdfunding campaign, via Chuffed, which began under Resilient Byron (of which Ella Rose Goninan was co-Chair at the time) was transferred to HHUG. All remaining unspent funds donated directly to Resilient Byron (or Resilient Byron’s NRCF subfund) for the Community-led Flood Crisis Operations in Mullumbimby were agreed by Resilient Byron (now Plan C) to be transferred to HHUG to be rightfully spent on the floods operations which they were given for. The transfer of all the unspent funds by Resilient Byron (now Plan C) to HHUG has still not occurred. This has caused HHUG and Renew Fest serious financial harm.

The recovery from the floods is still not over. This is a disaster at a scale that is hard to comprehend.

Throughout all of 2022 HHUG ran a range of programs that helped individuals and communities with basic supplies, home needs, environmental needs, telecommunications, personal and eco-trauma, rebuilding efforts, and communal reorganisation across the intersecting domains of environmental, social and regenerative governance.

THESE HAVE INCLUDED......

OUR PROGRAMS IN MULLUMBIMBY 

THE ARK: FREE OP SHOP — a quiet trauma-informed space for anyone who is flood-affected to get what they need for clothing, bedding, toiletries, kids toys and more. 71-77 Burringbar Street Mullumbimby (in the “Old Bank” building, diagonally opposite the IGA on the main street.). This was initially open seven days a week and then slowly tapered to 5 days a week, before closing in December 2022, after a very generous 8 month period of free rent from the owner of the premises.

CLEAN TEAMS AND HOME CARE — organising hundreds of volunteers into care teams for door-knocking checks, clean-up crews and delivery of essential items, in Mullumbimby and beyond. This has slowed down now, but we still connect volunteers with those in need, on an as needed basis.

NEIGHBOURHOOD CARE TEAMS — finding out about the needs of neighbours and who still needs what kind of support.

COMMUNITY INFORMATION AND COMMUNITY LIAISON — providing ongoing information in-person and online to help people understand what is happening and where they can get help.

OUR PROGRAMS IN ISOLATED COMMUNITIES

ISOLATED COMMUNITIES SUPPORT — for the "Upper Valleys" nearby Mullumbimby of Upper Main Arm and Upper Wilsons Creek~Wanganui~Hounbrook, along with other areas within and beyond the Brunswick River catchment area.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS IN ISOLATED COMMUNITIES — providing life-saving aid to communities isolated in the hills and valleys near Mullumbimby and in other isolated areas. We helped organise and coordinate exploratory treks, welfare checks, liaison with private helicopter evacuations, set up climbing lines and pulley system supply lines, and sent food, medicines, donated Starlink Satellites, radios, WIFI and other telecommunications devices. Channeling teams of professional climbers, riggers, arborists, paramedics and more on dozens of day-long expeditions. This was all-hands-on-deck in the first fortnight and then tapered to running important exploratory ground missions when needed.

WELL-BEING DAY — We organised body workers, healers and government services to provide their services free of charge at a wellbeing day in the Wilsons Creek / Huonbrook / Wanganui area.

OUR PROGRAMS ACROSS THE REGION

DONATIONS DEPOT (initially at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall, then at the side room of the Ex-Services and now downsized at The Ark) — receiving, sorting and distributing thousands of donations coming in from across the Northern Rivers and South East Queensland, of home goods, personal goods, cleaning goods, wet weather gear and emergency response equipment.

BULK DONATIONS — working with big donations of goods and services, to distribute to those that need it most. This ceased at the end of April 2022.

REGIONAL NETWORK BUILDING —coordinating with all the community-led flood support hubs across the Northern Rivers, in Byron Shire (Oceans Shores, Byron), up to the Tweed Shire (Uki, Murwillumbah), out to Lismore Shire (Nimbin, The Channon, Lismore), down to Ballina and Richmond Valley Shires (Ballina, Broadwater, Woodburn, Coraki). The intensive period of this is now over.

SUPPORT OPERATIONS

STAKEHOLDER COORDINATION — with local, state and national agencies and authorities.

DIGITAL AND ORGANISATIONAL SYSTEMS — setting up large-scale and sustainable organisational, digital, communications and coordination systems to support different community coordinators, crew members and volunteers throughout the Northern Rivers.

CREW CARE — with local body workers, counselling professionals and trainers freely offering their services to our tireless crew.

FUNDRAISING — keeping these operations and crisis programs going, so that we can continue to meet the ongoing and massive needs of individuals and communities.

RESEARCH, REFLECTION AND REPORTING — documenting, learning from and sharing what has been achieved by our crew and by our amazing community.