CREATURE COMFORTS
Volunteers sew items to help animals injured by Australia wildfires: help with shipping requested
Atlantic Canadians sew items to help animals in Australia wildfires
Australia is thousands of miles from Newfoundland, but the country ravaged by wildfires is close in heart to a group of St. John’s sewers.
During the weekend, about a dozen people met at Marjorie Mews Public Library with reams of fabric, patterns and sewing machines in tow.
They spent four hours making pouches for rescued joeys, wallabies and wombats.
At press time, the wildfires in Australia had burned an estimated 26 million acres, destroyed more than 5,900 buildings, killed 29 people and killed more than a billion animals, some of which could go extinct, according to The Washington Post.
“I’m a huge animal lover, and it just breaks my heart watching all the news stories,” said Meghan Anningson, manager at quilt shop Fiberlilly, and the organizer of Saturday’s event.
To assist those caring for injured wildlife, a group called the Canadian Animal Rescue Craft Guild put out a call for volunteers in every province to organize the making of a wide range of supplies: joey pouches, bird and rodent nests, bat wraps, blankets, animal sweaters, possum and bird boxes, koala mittens and more.
St. John’s resident Jacquie Jackson saw the call, and volunteered.
Last week, Jackson created the Facebook group From Newfoundland to Australia with Love. It has information about needed items, and patterns to make them.
The group has since grown to more than 1,000 members posting about how they will help — from high school clothing and textiles teachers getting entire classes sewing, to local businesses offering to mail shipments of the handmade items.
Jackson said they welcome any local business that can help with shipments.
“We know it’s going to be expensive (to ship), but even if one local company stepped up and said, ‘We’ll ship one box,’ one box is more stuff going over for the cause.”
Jackson said it was a natural decision to volunteer as a Newfoundland "hub" for the effort.
“If somebody asks you if you
can do something, and you have that skill to do it, then why not?”
The deadline to bring items for shipment at the dropoff locations on the Avalon Peninsula is Jan. 24, and Jan. 21 on the province’s west coast.
That weekend, Jackson will organize the items to ensure everything is packaged appropriately for shipment.