By Tyler Wright
The Kallista Village Township Group is set to hold a community event for locals to reflect on the June 2021 storm two years after the event ravaged the area.
‘Rainbow after the Storm’ will bring together people from Kallista, The Patch and Sherbrooke on Friday 16 June to share stories and plan ahead for future emergencies.
Kallista Village Inc secretary and local GP Dr Miki Schwartzbord said recovery in the area mostly come down to “neighbourly acts of kindness”.
“There were definitely parents from the schools running around, making meals, dropping off stove-top meals,” Dr Schwartzbord said.
A newly-formed branch of the Kallista Village Township Group, Kallista Emergency Group (KEG), will introduce a potential model for our community to respond to future emergencies and also invite participation in its development.
“How do communities reach and access support? Whether it’s council, whether it’s state government and now all levels of government, our federal MP, our state MP, our local councillors, they know that we’re here and we’re in touch from time to time,” Dr Schwartzbord said.
“All of that has actually been shown to help communities. The communities that thrive and do well after these sorts of things are ones that have those connections both sideways and up and down.”
The event marking the second anniversary of the 2021 storm will include local poet Jim Brown, reciting “Once in a Thousand Years” – a poem written especially for the event.
CFA and Yarra Ranges Council representatives will be in attendance at the Kallista Mechanics Hall to discuss recovery at round tables.
“People are at very different stages of recovery, and I’m sure there’s some people who might have just lost their power for a few weeks and moved on, and then there’s some people who would be deeply anxious and rattled by weather events,” Dr Schwartzbord said.
“Then there’s people who have left the mountain who have said ‘I don’t want to live there anymore,’ and then there’s people who are still dealing with red tape and barriers to getting houses fixed, kitchens fixed, [getting] back into or mov[ing] into a new house, which is a huge sense of loss.”
By having a township group, Dr Schwartzbord said new relationships have formed between community organisations including the school, the hall, the traders and the CFA.
“From a GP perspective, I think emergencies can create a great deal of anxiety. And anxiety can sometimes come out of a feeling of helplessness and not knowing what to do,” he said.
Bookings for ‘Rainbow after the Storm’ are essential, and can be found at https://www.trybooking.com/CHZFJ
The event is made possible by a grant from Yarra Ranges Council and will run from 6pm to 8pm.
