When Amanda* awoke to banging on her front door early last year, little did she know it would herald the start of a months-long period of homelessness for her, her three sons and two nephews who recently came into her care.
The family had been enjoying life in their riverside home in Ballina. The younger boys especially loved its yard spending carefree hours bouncing on the trampoline. But when the Northern Rivers floods hit, the family ended up trapped upstairs in their house for four days, watching helplessly as the waters rose higher and their trampoline washed away.
What followed was a roller coaster ride involving wading through floodwaters, camping out in evacuation centres, and a second round of flooding, which meant they had to evacuate from their new temporary home.
Wesley Mission Case Worker, Cherie, and her team worked rapidly to keep the family in appropriate accommodation, a task made difficult by the unprecedented demand. Over the next few months, they organised stays in a variety of hotels and holiday accommodations across the Northern Rivers area. The family even spent Easter in glamping tents, which the ever-positive Amanda made fun by building a campfire and treating the experience like a holiday for the boys.
“The toughest part was in one lot of accommodation which wouldn’t take dogs,” says Amanda. “It was really hard for the kids to not have our dog, Miley, around but Cherie arranged for her colleague to look after him, so we knew he was in good hands which made such a difference.”
Eventually, after months of homelessness, the family was offered the house where they remain today. They are thrilled to finally have somewhere they can permanently call home, and the children quickly made friends at their new school. The Wesley Mission team helped ensure they had everything they needed to make the transition into their new home as smooth as possible.
“Cherie was an amazing help in getting a lot of the furniture we needed so I could focus on getting everyone settled,” says Amanda. “But I was able to buy some stuff myself, and of course, I made sure Santa knew to bring the boys a trampoline for Christmas”.
Wesley Mission provided relief to many people like Amanda who experienced homelessness from the catastrophic floods in NSW. We have only been able to do this with your wonderful support. Thank you.
*Names, photos and some details changed for privacy.
