Broadway responds to Australian Bushfire crisis with a helping hand

With nearly 20 million hectares of land decimated across Australia, this has truly been the worst bushfire crisis of several generations.

The tremendous and consistent flow of support for Australia’s national bushfire emergency continues to be heard from all corners of the globe. What started with a shared Facebook SBS news article, about a Dutch quilter making mittens for koalas injured in the Australian bushfire crisis, echoed all around the globe. The post resonated so strongly with a cast member Rebecca Watson from Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird production that she recruited the productions wardrobe crew to start sewing mittens made of flannel and cotton.

“After reading the article Kerry tagged me in on Facebook, I immediately wanted to help,” says Watson. “[The article] provided a pattern, I had fabric, and I began. There was something I could do.”

Animal Rescue Craft Guild is also calling for bat wraps, possum pouches, and more. “They are using these items not only for healing, but for transportation and providing places for the animals to live and survive outside their natural habitats, which have been destroyed,” Watson says.

The Mockingbird family send their crafts direct to Australia, but notes that there are many ways for other crafters to help and get their products overseas, including U.S. addresses listed by the Animal Rescue Craft Guild. (The Rescue Collective, Animal Rescue Collective, and Animal Rescue Craft Guild are all one team backed by the charity Mini Kitty Commune.)

“There are people all over the world joining,” Watson exclaims. “Even the smallest amount of help is good.”

This unprecedented crisis which has seen the lives of nearly 1 billion animals lost is far from over. Broadway Cares has also awarded $100,000 in emergency grants to NSW Rural Fire Services and Brigades and WIRES.