Service is one of the tenets of Christian life and on Monday, 15 June the ADRA Emergency Accommodation team once again provided a valuable service for those needing accommodation. 

Sydney has been surprisingly busy recently with calls during the Lindt Café siege, the storms in April and now with sink holes and fires.

“The call came through at 5:38 pm on Monday” says Sydney South Coordinator Linda Lewis. “We were on standby for 4 families that needed accommodation due to a sink hole opening up in Illawong.  We immediately started calling the hotels in the area to line up accommodation if required.  I remember joking to Douglas Kietlyka the NSW Coordinator (Emergency Services) at the time that at least the call didn’t come through at 2 am.”

“So I couldn’t believe it when at 2:38 am that morning the Sydney South team was activated again, this time for a fire at an RSL in Mascot that was impacting a block of units next door.  Fortunately, we were able to find accommodation for the 16 families at a hotel nearby.”

This is the first time that a team has been activated on the same night with two different events and it really brings home the escalation of emergency situations and the importance of the role the Adventist church plays in providing services for disaster-affected people.  It may not be long before we actually have to man an evacuation centre in Sydney, and if that comes about we will really need our church members to step up.

Douglas Kielyka, ADRA Emergency Manager for NSW will be conducting the training on the 15th of August.  Email Linda Lewis, ADRA Emergency Management Coordinator for South Sydney, on llewisj{at}gmail.com or message 0410631247. Invitations will be sent out closer to the event.

Contributed by Linda Lewis, ADRA Emergency Management Coordinator for South Sydney.