Shaun Meehan, General Manager - Self Insurance, delivered a much-needed donation of Gentle Bears to Kangaroo Island families.
The community was hit hard in the bushfire season, which saw around 200,000 hectares of land burned, almost half the island, and destroyed 86 houses.
Handing over the Gentle Bears, Shaun commented:
“Many families are doing it tough on Kangaroo Island. The Islanders are a proud bunch and it’s in their nature to work through challenges as a community. That said, there are kids on the Island who have lost all their possessions, so a donation of Gentle Bears seemed like the least we could do.”
With the help of local businesses and community members, Shaun identified a number of organisations in the community, which the bears were distributed across. These included –
- Island Care. A not-for-profit organisation operating out of Kingscote. They have become a centre for donations from the public to help those Islanders in most need.
- The Parndana Hotel. This hotel has become the local meeting place for Islanders to interact post the devastation of the fires. Almost all the Island west of Parndana has been ravaged by the fires.
- A member of the Parndana School parents and friends committee. They will be work with the Kangaroo Island Community Education (KICE) School at Parndana to house Gentle Bears with the school counsellors.
- The Rock Pool Café in Stokes Bay. In a similar way to the Parndana Hotel, this venue has become an important meeting place for Islanders.
Shaun added:
“It was surreal and moving to see the damage first hand and imagine how difficult and confronting it must have been for those fighting the fires."
"Thankfully some regrowth is already starting to appear and I trust our donation of Gentle Bears will help provide some comfort to the children of Kangaroo Island as they move on from this disaster.”
Gentle Bear came into existence through collaboration between GB and the South Australia Police Department to reduce Post Traumatic Stress-related injuries. They wanted to do more to help the children they were coming into contact with when responding to 000 calls.
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