Lynne Mowbray|

Woodford Island couple Alison Fudge and Paul Burton wanted to donate something practical and needed to the Clarence Christmas Bushfire Appeal.

Alison said that she contacted the organisers to find out what was needed.

“I got the idea (of the men’s dignity toiletry bags) from Kristy who’s running the Clarence Christmas Bushfire Appeal,” said Alison.

“They wanted ‘men’s dignity toiletry bags’, as that was something that they didn’t have.

“So I thought I’ll jump in and I can make that happen. So I went out to the shops and put it all together and we’ve made all the bags up and brought 50 men’s dignity toiletry bags in to the Maclean Bowling Club, to drop them off,” she said.

Each of the men’s dignity toiletry bags contain: bodywash, deodorant, shaving gel, razors, toothbrush and toothpaste.

Paul said that before this appeal, they didn’t know what a dignity bag was.

“So it’s been an education as well,” Paul said.

“There are people who do other things but we just thought, what is the real need?

“For us, donating money was un-personable and we wanted to know what we were donating.  We know that these men will be helped through this appeal, so that’s really important,” he said.

The couple wish to thank the following businesses – The Reject Shops in Yamba and Grafton and Beachside Bargains Yamba, for their generous discounts which enabled them to provide more bags.