Months on from the Black Saturday bushfires, a group of volunteers are working hammer and tong to restore what was destroyed in seconds.  

Blaze-Aid, a voluntary organisation, is committed to rebuilding fences on properties affected by the bushfires. The organisation was started by Kilmore East farmer Kevin Butler who, after rebuilding his own fences, just kept working.

So far, over 3,000 volunteers have worked in chain gang style teams re-building fences across 400 kilometres of land.

At the heart of this organisation is Rhonda Butler, the wife of Kevin Butler, who has been cooking for the volunteers 3 times a day, 7 days a week without respite from her home kitchen.

To help the cause, a team of chefs from Carrick Institute of Education have stepped in to help feed the masses. 

Carrick’s industrial kitchens will take the pressure off Rhonda’s hardworking domestic kitchen and create over 400 fresh meals a month for the volunteers, including lasagne, beef casserole and even a huge BBQ at the Butler home for the weekend volunteers. 

Greg Francis, Head Chef and Kitchen Operations Coordinator at the Carrick Melbourne campus says they are more than happy to take the pressure off Rhonda who hasn’t stopped cooking since Blaze-Aid started in February. 

There are some great stories to come out of Blaze-Aid with couples as far as Texas and Switzerland using their holiday time to help out and Greg says that the Carrick team are there to do their bit like the rest of crew. 

Over 400,000 of hectares were burnt out during the fires and over 2,029 properties destroyed by the bushfires. To volunteer contact Kevin on 0418 530 471 or kevrhon@gmail.com