By Mikayla van Loon
Some wild weather has left a trail of destruction once again only four months after the last major storm event, with power outages and trees down across the Yarra Ranges.
A playspace at the Maroondah Community Assist in Croydon has seen some major damage occur to its play equipment and boundary fences after trees fell at the property this morning.
But the generosity has already started to shine through, with people offering up houses and community centres for warmth and power.
The Parents Hub in Mooroolbark has opened up its doors to members and non-members who are without power so they can charge phones, get a cup of coffee or warm up some milk for their children.
Founder and CEO Erin Bourke said they have already had some of their members come to use microwaves and get warm this morning after losing power.
“We’ve had a couple who are already members who have had no power. So they’re happy coming down, just to get a nice hot coffee, let the kids play for a bit, so it’s been nice,” she said.
As the lucky half of Mooroolbark that still has power, Ms Bourke said because they were already running a playgroup session this morning, it just seemed logical to offer help to people.
“We just figured while we’re here and we’ve got power, we might as well open it up to anyone who needs help.”
After the storms in June, Ms Bourke said she had really wanted to offer support to more people and create a hub but the restrictions didn’t allow it.
This time round she felt The Parents Hub could do so safely, following CovidSafe practices.
“Last time a big storm happened it was obviously a stricter lockdown. So we were really wanting to open it up then because there were so many more people that needed it but we just didn’t have the freedom to do so.
“We just thought, being that it was so windy, we’ve even had a tree down in our yard here, so we just obviously got straight on to it and wanted to get the word out early so that people knew that we were able to offer it this time around.”
The Parents Hub has space for children to play inside, even though children are a little bit disappointed they can’t play in the sandpit or on the swings.
“Most of the kids are happy enough being inside which is great because obviously we’re just worried about the kids playing outside with all the trees, you just never know if another branch is gonna fall.
“I’m sure a lot of the kids are disappointed because they love playing in the sandpit and we’ve got slides and swings and stuff.
“Thankfully, we had a back up plan in case there were storms or even just some rain. We’ve had a few activities set up inside and a facilitator has just gone and set up a few more.”
Ms Bourke said she is more than happy for people just to swing by The Parents Hub located at 168 Manchester Rd, Mooroolbark or they can call ahead on 9726 5985. Staff will be onsite until 3pm.
