Clothes donation to Barunga community in lockdown

Getting new clothes in the Aboriginal community of Barunga in the Top End of the NT is tricky at the best of times, but with the COVID-19 ban on travel in and out of NT communities, it’s near impossible.

This means if people who live in Barunga can’t get the clothes they need at the local community store; they can’t have it until the travel ban is lifted. The cooler dry season is about to start, and we all know the importance of new, clean clothes in fighting the spread of diseases.

To help remedy this, Remote Laundries project and Givit have come up with a solution to get new clothes to the people who live in Barunga. It’s not the Barunga music and culture festival – it’s the festival of clothes!

Remote Laundries is a charity run by Aboriginal Investment Group and operates the public laundry in Barunga, so they know a thing or two about clothes. It has teamed up with Givit, a not for profit that targets poverty in Australia by supporting service providers through donations, which is this case is heaps of new clothes.

All the ladies!

It’s time for the ladies to shine, because the pallet of clothes that arrived in Barunga is full of new ladies’ clothes of all sizes. Soozie Gillies the Council Services Coordinator from the Roper Gulf Shire is doing the heavy lifting on the ground by coordinating the distribution of clothes, and is allowing six people in at a time (social distancing!) to check out the clothes and take what they like. Expect to see some flash looking ladies around Barunga over the next few days.

But seriously now…

With everything that is going on, it’s easy to forget how hard it is for people living in communities. They rely heavily on the bigger towns close by to get what they need, but with the COVID-19 lockdown response, it is tough. It’s up to charities like Remote Laundries and Aboriginal Investment Group to rise to the challenge, diversify from our core business and help people in communities meet their daily needs.

What can you do?

Donating to the Remote Laundries charity will keep the laundry operating and staff on the ground to come up with important initiatives like this clothing donation. www.remotelaundries.org.au

Givit are experts at getting needed donations of things and money to the right people. Check out their website www.givit.org.au