The South Grafton Mend and Make Do Crew Incorporated registered charity group were still getting over the hectic bushfire season, when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared.

Throughout the bushfire season, the volunteer group had worked tirelessly creating “care kits” for those who had been displaced and impacted by the fires in northern NSW, as well as putting together kits for the firefighters to assist them, while out on the fire grounds.

Mend and Make Do Crew founder Ursula Tunks said that at the start of March this year, they began putting face masks in the toiletry kits which they were donating to the agencies, so that the ‘homeless’ and ‘at risk’, had access to them.

“Now that the rush on hand sanitiser has eased off, we are also able to access supply of this and include hand sanitiser in these kits as well,” Ursula said.

“To make sure that we remain viable, we’ve been making face masks with the help of our supporters.

“We want to thank Brad and Gregg at South Grafton News and Gifts who are selling these face masks for us for $10 each,” she said.

As quick as the group can make them, the masks are walking out the door, according to staff at the newsagency; so more mask-making volunteers are needed urgently to keep up with demand.   

“So, if anyone wants to help out with sewing or cutting out, that would be great,” Ursula said.

“The patterns along with other information are available through the Mend and Make Do Crew online group (see below for link) and volunteers can either work from their home or at the Mend and Make Do sheds at South Grafton,” she said.

Apart from volunteers to assist with the mask making, Ursula said that they could really do with the help of a few more volunteers with the cleaning up and organising of the sheds.

“We’ve given up on the markets and craft classes at the moment (due to COVID-19 restrictions) but maybe from September on, we will be looking to having a couple of “bring your own craft” days for social inclusion, because there are a lot of people who are really suffering mental health wise through the isolation.

We have a lot of space here and heaps of ventilation to let people have a table each, to sit at and work and just talk to people – but we’re still working on that.

“The other thing that we are desperate to get up and running is our “She Shed/He Shed”,which we had planned to have ready last year, but was put on hold due to the fires.

“We see this as a priority, as the economic impact has not even hit yet.

“We would really like to get that set up so that people can come and repair things and fix things, rather than having to replace them. So, we’d like to hear from people that have those skills and are used to setting up workshops.

“Nymboida have started up a tool library, which we have been a part of, but we are also going to be setting up a tool library here in South Grafton as part of the “She Shed/He Shed” – so that people have access to tools.

“So that’s a priority. I think that in terms of financial hardship and the need to repair things and also breaking down the social isolation, it’s going to be quite important,” she said.

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