BlazeAid volunteers are already out helping farmers affected by bushfires across the country.
BlazeAid founder Kevin Butler is currently in South Australia with volunteers starting on recovery efforts there before heading to New South Wales later this week.
The group currently has 10 active camps, eight in New South Wales and one each in Victoria and South Australia with three more camps to be opened soon.
BlazeAid is a volunteer-based organisation that works with farmers and families in rural Australia after natural disasters such as fires.
Mr Butler, a farmer from Kilmore East, founded the organisation following the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.
Mr Butler said on the BlazeAid Facebook page on Sunday that co-ordinators were needed to establish up to 30 additional base camps in the fire region across north-east Victoria and southern New South Wales.
“This will facilitate tens of millions of dollars of aid to numerous fire ravaged rural communities under BlazeAid’s proper governance codes,” he said.
BlazeAid co-ordinators also made a point of reminding people that the recovery from the fires will take months, if not longer.
“We have been touched by the sheer amount of kind people reaching out to us to help those in need. And while we hope that this level of generosity continues, we would like to remind people not to forget us when the media reports die down.
“It can take over 12 months for BlazeAid to help rebuild a community, so if you are keen to volunteer but timing is not ideal, please reach out to us when it suits as we will need just as many people on board months after the fires have gone, as we do now.”
