General News
1 October, 2025
Supporting bushfire relief efforts
INSPIRED by the tremendous collective effort of volunteers who rolled up their sleeves in the wake of last summer’s Grampians bushfires, the team at David O Jones Mitre 10 has facilitated a substantial donation for an organisation that made a huge difference for farmers in the region post-fires.
BlazeAid has received over $10,000 worth of tools and equipment that will go straight to the frontline of efforts to help communities affected by bushfire.
The charity is committed to working with people in rural Australia affected by natural disasters such as fires and floods, and was a significant presence in the region as locals began rebuilding after the devastation.
Mitre 10 Ararat store manager Mark Sullivan spearheaded the effort to organise the substantial donation.
“When the fires came through, I asked what opportunity Mitre 10 had to support either on-ground, or agencies that could support people who have been affected,” said Mr Sullivan.
“The first word I got was that it was going to be approximately $6,000, and it ended up being a $10,000 donation.
“Once that came through, Mel from BazeAid got onto me and discussed what she was looking for, as in what would best support them, I then approached the suppliers from Mitre 10 and a lot of the suppliers came to the party.”
Mitre 10 Ararat and Stawell store owner David Jones said Mr Sullivan persuaded several suppliers to give extra discounts and throw items in to make the donation even more substantial.
“The suppliers beefed it up with discounts that Mark was able to secure, and we still had $10,000 available for them to spend,” Mr Jones said.
According to Mr Sullivan, the retail value of the donated items exceeds $14,000.
BlazeAid Chief Executive Officer, Melissa Jones, visited Mitre 10 Ararat last Thursday to receive the goods and was over-the-moon to accept the generous donation.
“We literally can’t keep going without donations like this,” said Ms Jones.
“We’ve got nearly 300 combat-ready trailers that go all over Australia, and as people are aware, fire goes through everything wipes out a farmers’ tools, so we need to bring our own and these items are exactly what our volunteers use on the fence lines.”
“It’s absolutely essential, we’re run from donations, and if we don’t have stuff like this, we can’t do our job and can’t help people who need it.”
Ms Jones said the Ararat and Stawell Mitre 10 teams had been a huge help to BlazeAid during the local bushfire recovery efforts.
“When we were working after the around this area, Mitre 10 were amazing supporters of both camps we had in the area,” she said.
“Anything we needed, there was always a friendly face saying, ‘yep we’ll get it in for you’ and this donation is just an extension of that wonderful community support that Mitre 10 have given us for the last 12 months really.
We had a couple of camps at Willaura, with 300 separate registered volunteers that came, and 71 registered properties that we completed.”
BlazeAid’s huge operation in the Grampians saw hundreds of kilometres of fencing established thanks to volunteer labour.
“There was about 200 kilometres of fencing cleared and a further 203 kilometres rebuilt, which is pretty amazing, I know quotes from around this area were $26,000 a kilometre to rebuild a fence, so you can imagine how much that’s saving people who are in dire straits,” said Ms Jones.
“We served about 5,000 meals over that time in Willaura alone, and there were about 4100 volunteers days donated in the area all up.”