The recent devastating floods hit Lismore hard and a vital community organisation, Lifeline, wasn’t spared.
Lifeline is Australia’s leading suicide prevention service and Lismore is an important centre for its work. The floods caused major damage to its main office and call centre, as well as to the op shops that generate funds that support Lifeline’s work.
After seeing the scale of the damage, Lifeline reached out to CPB Contractors to see if any temporary buildings could be made available so that it could continue to operate until its offices were repaired and refurbished.
Wade Rogan, CPB Contractors - Plant Manager NSW, ACT, NZ, visited Lismore to see what Lifeline needed and if CPB could help get them back up and running.
“What happened to Lismore was terrifying. I'd never seen anything like it. You watch the news, you read the reports, but it didn’t prepare me for what I saw when I got there.”
“We had two fully self-contained portable site caravans and a portable toilet available, so I visited the site with Michael Were, the Lifeline Northern NSW GM, and figured out what we could do. Then we brought the vans into our workshop on the Central Coast and the NSW Plant Team went to work, making sure everything was ready for deployment”
“Then we took them up to Lismore and installed them. It’s a tight fit but we made it work.”
“Given some of the supply line challenges in Lismore, we didn’t want to leave the Lifeline team with just an empty shell. The team in our workshop and office made a list of everything Lifeline might need to get operational again, and we fitted the vans out with chairs, power boards, extension cords, office supplies, cleaning equipment and even down to coffee, tea and biscuits. We wanted them to be able to walk in and start working.”
Michael Were, Northern NSW General Manager at Lifeline said
“With our building needing a total refurbishment, and finding alternate premises difficult, we had an idea that we use our carpark as a location for a temporary work-site, if we could find some sort of portable building. With no real experience in this field, we contacted CPB Contractors. To have their team get behind Lifeline, understand our needs and our challenge in Lismore, and then bring to us a solution that worked in such a short period of time was amazing. We are now able to have our Northern Rivers based Crisis Supporters back answering calls and contributing to our goal of ensuring that no Australian faces their darkest moment alone.”
Lifeline provides services that are key to the well-being of many in our community. CPB Contractors is pleased that it was able to respond quickly to assist them in remaining operational in Lismore, particularly at this time where their services are in high demand.
Congratulations to everyone who helped make this happen.