ADRA in partnership with the Church responds to bushfires

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Australia has activated its National Emergency Management Plan (NEMP) in response to the current Victorian bushfires.

One person has died, over 300 structures (including homes, businesses, and outbuildings) have been lost, and an estimated 15,000 livestock have died in fires that have burned at least 390,000 hectares of the state.

ADRA is partnering with local Seventh-day Adventist churches and community members to respond to the crisis. The response includes providing financial assistance, emergency evacuation kits, and psychosocial support.

In late 2025, ADRA conducted National Emergency Response Team (NERT) training for volunteers in disaster-prone areas. Conducting training before a disaster strikes means that volunteers and staff on the ground feel equipped to respond in times of disaster.

The Victorian NERT leadership has been activated to help respond.

Below is a summary of ADRA’s response efforts.

Emergency Evacuation Kits:

650 emergency evacuation kits were prepared and distributed across the state: 450 from Wangaratta Seventh-day Adventist Church, 100 from the ADRA Op Shop Albury, and 100 from ADRA Ferntree Gully.

The kits contain hygiene items such as towels, body wash, toothbrushes, and sanitary items. For those who have been evacuated, often with little warning or planning, access to personal hygiene items can help provide dignity.

ADRA Ferntree Gully provided toilet paper and essential sanitary supplies to the Lilydale evacuation centre.

“As soon as we arrived at the Lilydale evacuation centre, the centre manager immediately used the supplies to stock the bathrooms,” says Sue Beament, manager at ADRA Ferntree Gully. “Up until that point, there had been ladies using toilet paper for sanitary products.”

In each emergency evacuation kit, ADRA has also included a flyer with psychosocial support materials to help those impacted by the fires access appropriate services.

Partnerships:

On 15/01/2026, Sanitarium is delivering crates of UP&GO to ADRA Op Shop Albury for distribution to Wangaratta Church. As a single-portion product that does not require refrigeration, UP&GO is ideal for on-the-go consumption. Additionally, ADRA is partnering with local organisations including Follow Bless Collective and Share the Dignity to help meet the needs of impacted individuals.

Wangaratta Spotlight:

When Jan and Dale Mitchell from Wangaratta Seventh-day Adventist Church put out a call to the community for help to assemble emergency evacuation kits, they were overwhelmed with the response.

At 6:15pm on Saturday night, Wangaratta Seventh-day Adventist Church opened their doors for donations. That night, they received approximately 150 carloads of donated goods from the community.

Jan had been specific about what items to donate for the kits and the community responded, donating boxes of deodorants, tissues, sanitary items, and other requested goods.

Jan exclaimed, “One lady must have brought in at least $1,000 worth of stuff!”

By the end of the night, they had packed 450 kits for evacuees made up of donations to the value of approximately $50,000. A local charity called Share the Dignity supported Jan’s efforts by gifting 50 ‘Mum & Bubs’ bags, valued at around $300 each. Supermarkets gifted slabs of water.

Jan and Dale are heavily involved in the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and run an ADRA-supported pop-up op shop every 5-6 weeks. The op shop provides goods free of charge to struggling community members and is visited by 500-600 people each time. As such, the trust the community have for them is undeniable. In times of need, Jan now has a committee of around 20 community members backing her to support the community.

“Once we put the call out for donations, everyone got to work approaching businesses for support and everyone pitched in to get behind the people really doing it tough,” Dale said.

According to Jan, Wangaratta church has a small elderly congregation, but support from the community more than made up the difference, with around 30 people staying to sort and pack.

As well as helping those affected by the fires through emergency evacuation kits, ADRA is supporting the local Wangaratta CFA brigade by providing provisions such as Gatorade and on-the-go snacks.

As a lieutenant in the CFA, Dale knows all too well the psychosocial impacts of fires on communities that have lost everything. He shared that kits like these with toiletries and essentials not only gave people the means to have a shower, snack, and a physical reset, but the kits shared hope that people cared, and encouraged a moment to catch their breath amidst what some would say is the hardest time of their life.

To support ADRA’s response to the Victorian bushfires, please donate at adra.org.au/disaster

If you have been impacted by fires, please see VIC Emergency Relief and Recovery tab for information on what services are available to support at emergency.vic.gov.au/relief/#january_2026_fires

If you have become separated from your loved ones, please connect with Register. Find Reunite at redcross.org.au/emergencies/about-register-find-reunite/

Author: Naomi Vaotuua, Emergency Management Program Officer for ADRA Australia.