Australia’s 2019/2020 devastating bushfire crisis made international headlines earlier this year. The vast amount of land which was destroyed exceeded the size of some small countries – around 12 million hectares and included more than 2000 homes. The human death toll exceeded 30 and estimates on the number of animals which perished exceeded 1 billion. Statistics like these put the magnitude of this catastrophe into perspective.
If there was any a silver lining to all the devastation we saw on the news and social media, it was how people came together to fundraise and support the ‘Firies’, the Red Cross and Wildlife groups. From International celebrities, corporate philanthropists, listed companies and small businesses, to individual members of the public – a total of $500 million was raised in Australian bushfire donations.
Shred-X began planning our bushfire fundraising campaigns in early January this year. After some research, we decided to align our corporate fundraising efforts with 2 wildlife organisations in the areas most fire-affected, one in Victoria (Wildlife Victoria) and the other in NSW (WIRES). Shred-X ran a ‘% of sales donation’ campaign, as well as an internal staff fundraising initiative to support wildlife injured, orphaned or displaced by the catastrophe.
Our fundraising results are in and we are pleased to announce that over $20,000 was raised in our national bushfire campaign!
Gordon Hockly, Regional VIC, TAS & National Procurement Commodities Manager was delighted to present a cheque for over $10,000 to Wildlife Victoria, and Cecily Shirley, Branch Manager of NSW presented WIRES with their donation.
These funds will go towards wildlife requiring veterinary care and the costs of ongoing support and rehabilitation.
Shred-X extends a huge “thank you” to our employees for their generous support as well as our fantastic clients, without whom this wonderful donation would not have been possible.