Thank you to Jacqueline Cassel-Cramer for the idea and the Australian High Commission in Ottawa for this list of some of the main organisations supporting communities impacted by the fires. If you want to make a donation, please click on the link provided and contact these organisations directly:

• Australian Red Cross
• The Salvation Army
• NSW Rural Fire Service
• Country Fire Authority of Victoria
• South Australian Country Fire Service
• WIRES (injured animals)

Tax-deductable donations can NOW also be made through the Canadian Red Cross – https://www.redcross.ca/ or 1-800-418-1111 (donor relations office).

Kookaburra perched on a burnt tree in the aftermath of a bushfire in Wallabi Point, Australia, on November 12, 2019. Photo: ADAM STEVENSON/Reuters.

Local Aussie Phoebie Peters was interviewed by Caitlyn Gowriluk at CBC Manitoba about the bushfires in Australia.

You can read the entire piece at “Houses, memories gone in ‘blink of an eye’: Fires spark worry for Australian expat in Winnipeg“.

Phoebie is an apprentice tattoo artist at Rising Phoenix Body Art on Winnipeg’s Sherbrook Street, and providing one of six designs for $50 a piece — koalas, wombats and kangaroos. Half the proceeds are going to WIRES — NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc. — that has been rescuing and caring for native animals for more than 30 years, and is currently working with animals affected by the fires.

Visit Phoebie for a tattoo — “We plan on doing this until Australia is no longer burning” — or make a direct donation to WIRES.

Thanks to CBC Manitoba for doing the article, and to all Canadians who have reached out with their concerns, their donations, and their help.