Flood affected families will receive support from Cloncurry based charity Sisters of the North, as donated funds are distributed across the North West.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Sisters of the North have raised over $100,000 in four days through a GoFund Me Page and are planning to start distributing donated funds to affected communities.
An SMS voucher system will be used between businesses and recipients, to claim funds in flood stricken areas including Richmond, Cloncurry, Winton, Julia Creek, Hughenden and Normanton areas.
These vouchers will support recipients in need but also inject funds back into the local business in affected shires.
Susan Dowling, Sisters of the North founder and Cloncurry resident, said distributing the money correctly was vital to helping affected communities.
“It is an important priority to SOTN that money these generous people have entrusted to us, is injected straight back into affected community businesses inside these affected shires”, Ms Dowling said.
“We want to be able, with hand-on-heart to show donors where the money has been distributed towards making a difference in these communities.
“We believe the systems we have developed are transparent, without bureaucracy, immediately available on application and totally controlled by key local SOTN ambassadors”.
Businesses in the affected shires will be able to register their interest via the Sisters of the North.
Ambassadors, identified by the Sisters of the North, will distribute the voucher codes to those in need.
The voucher recipient, after receiving an SMS with a voucher code, will simply present the code at a participating business to claim their voucher.
Business will be able to verify vouchers using an automated SMS service. Vouchers will be reimbursed to businesses from Sisters of the North Charity Trust account each Monday.
The fundraising efforts have already begun and will continue up until the “Sisters of the North Weekender” in Cloncurry 5-7th April.
The custom SMS technology is being developed by EQ LIVE, developers of Campdraft Central.
Managing Director Clay Cini said using technology to distribute vouchers is the key to quickly distributing funds to affected people.
“We’ve been using SMS as part of our platforms for 10 years”, Clay said.
“Not only are SMS’s convenient and easy to distribute information, a mobile phone number identifies an individual more securely than a password or email address.”
Disclosure: North West Star journalist Samantha Walton is one of the many committee member's of the Sisters of the North organisation.
While you are here, subscribe to our weekly email delivered to your inbox 6am every Friday.