SURVIVORS of past Toodyay fires made a special visit to the Cookernup Hall on Wednesday, delivering the types of items only they could understand would be needed by their Yarloop counterparts.
Shire of Harvey councillor Amanda Lovitt said the contingent from Toodyay arrived with about 300 boxes of necessities pre-packed for individuals ready to simply collect and take away.
“They did such a wonderful job – every box was labelled, every box had a list of everything that was inside it,” she said.
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READ NOW“And they stood and listened to their (the people from Yarloop) stories. Because they’d been through it too, they understood.”
Importantly, clothing was not among the items delivered on Wednesday – because the initial response from people around WA to clear their wardrobes and donate clothing to those who were left houseless was overwhelming.
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In fact, the Toodyay delegation left Cookernup with 30 cubic metres of previously donated clothing to take elsewhere, saving the local community significant transport costs.
“The message going out to the wider state community is very simple when it comes to clothes – thank you, but also no thank you,” Cr Lovitt said.
“The call will go out in the coming months for items that the community do need as they transition from short to medium and finally to long term accommodation, but for the time being many have not got the capacity to store donated items they receive.”
Six weeks on from the devastation, little has happened in the Yarloop townsite.
Cookernup meanwhile has taken on the affectionate nickname of Cookerloop, with so many from Yarloop using the neighbouring community as headquarters since the fire.