We've Got To Do Something

Kurrajong restaurant owner James Chircop saw first-hand the difficulties experienced by residents unable to cross the river when the floods were at their height, he was one of them.

There were no access points in or out of the area.

While the stores had bread, milk and other essentials, things weren’t so dire, but as the supply started to dwindle things became a bit scary. “My husband said, We’ve got to do something,” Mrs Chircop said.

“We put a message out on facebook asking people to list what they needed.

“We paid for a helicopter and got stuff shipped in.”

Lists included items like bread, milk, baby formula and scripts. James Chircop said that finding a place to land the helicopter was a bit of a struggle until a local resident Jeanette Star stepped in and offered her private property for use.

“Without her help, what we did wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

The helicopter had additional seats, so they asked if there was anyone who urgently needed to get out of the area as well.

In the end, another two flights were organised, with non-urgent passen-gers chipping in for the cost.

Mrs Chircop said that people were very grateful.

The couple also had a hand in feeding people at the North Richmond evacuation centre, providing food on Wednesday and Friday.

James and Rachael Chircop expressed their gratitude to Jeanette Star for her assistance, both with the landing spot for the chopper and her assistance with accommodation for Mr Chircop and his father-in-law.

• Topics:

• People
• Community
• Floods