Charity group Turbans 4 Australia has provided 1700 free meals to help communities on the Redlands Coast islands bounce back after Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Mayor Jos Mitchell said the service was warmly received by everyone on the islands, particularly those who were impacted by power outages after the event.
“It has been heartwarming to see so many charities and community groups helping to get our island communities back on their feet,” the Mayor said.
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“I know residents in these areas really appreciated having access to a warm meal while they were without power.
“It brought smiles to a lot of faces and the chance to connect with neighbours over a meal.”
The Mayor thanked the Turbans 4 Australia team for supporting the island communities in their time of need.
“Almost as soon as the ferries started operating again, Turbans 4 Australia contacted Council to ask about how they could get their volunteers across to the islands,” the Mayor said.
“What followed was a fantastic show of community support, with 1700 meals handed out on the islands and hundreds more distributed in other impacted parts of south-east Queensland.
“This included providing meals to State Emergency Service crews and other teams working on the frontline of the cyclone response.”
Deputy Mayor and Disaster Recovery Group Chair Julie Talty said it was a huge effort to get so many hot meals across to the islands during the power failures after Cyclone Alfred.
“The group spent three days in a row providing meals to people on Macleay, Russell and Lamb islands before visiting all townships on North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah),” Cr Talty said.
“They also met with Quandamooka Elders and organisations while on Minjerribah to ensure the meals were reaching the people who needed them most.
“The operation involved meals being freshly prepared on the mainland, packaged up, and then brought across to the islands on a barge for distribution to the community.
“The volunteers were quite literally cooking around the clock to help as many people as possible, in the Sikh tradition of assisting others.”
Redland City Council provides a suite of services to 166,873 residents and more than 63,000 residential households across Redlands Coast. Our naturally wonderful city on Quandamooka Country is home to more than 335 kilometres of coastline, six island communities and 12 mainland suburbs.
