New washing machine eases the load for Sandra

Sandra with the old washing machine that has performed hundreds of loads for her friends and neighbours over the past 18 months.

One of the few – perhaps only – silver linings to emerge from the heavy clouds that burst over the Northern Rivers last year is the strengthened sense of community spirit.

No one exemplifies that more than Sandra from Swan Bay.

Being the first in the area to get running water back on, almost immediately after the February 2022 flood, Sandra has taken in and done hundreds of loads of washing for her friends, neighbours and the wider community, in her trusty old Bosch machine.

Her generosity warmed our hearts, and we were therefore thrilled to be able to provide her with a brand new washing machine, generously donated by a member of our community.

Resilient Lismore provided her with a pump straight after the flood, which allowed her to operate her old machine, a luxury not many around her had.

“My plumbing got put up immediately, straight from the tank to me,” she said. “My neighbours have all had little issues with their plumbing and their pumps. The water supplies were always so down, and I had my tank cleaned, by Resilient (Lismore) again, cleaned my tank and filled it right at the start. So, I had water right at the start.”

Sandra thinks nothing of helping out her friends – after all, they look after her too.

“They look after me. I'm here by myself. And they look after me if they see anything going on up here and they look after me and they feed me. We're very tight, because we've lived here many, many years,” she said.

“And a couple of friends in town, I'd grab their washing and do it. At one stage, when they closed the laundry, the (Orange Sky mobile) washing machines down in town (Coraki), I was doing about two loads a day of someone else's washing. For months. That's why Resilient (Lismore) said ‘We're getting you a new washing machine’.

“It's actually been an almighty little machine. Because it has washed blankets, everything from the neighbours and it's just been an amazing machine. But the boys said, ‘Sandra, you deserve another one.’ I said, ‘Oh, really?’ ‘Yeah, a new one.’ And I'll keep that one there, so when anybody needs anything, they can come and use that one downstairs.

“Our neighbours, we are very close, and I've met the one down the road. They moved in I think two years ago and I’d never met them (before the flood). And she's lovely too. She said, ‘just yell out Sandra if you need anything’. So, this is a really nice road. We all love each other.”

The ‘boys’ Sandra refers to are the builders from Joel Jensen Constructions, who are onsite a couple of days a week helping rebuild her house. They have built her a kitchen, to go with the new wheelchair-friendly bathroom (for her mother) put in by Resilient Lismore and partners the Reece Foundation.

Sandra admires the bathroom built by the Reece Foundation and Resilient Lismore.

Sandra’s rebuilt kitchen.

“They’re good boys. I feed them with lollies,” she said.

“This has been what's kept me sane: the rebuild. And the boys, and this is what I do for my boys. I keep bringing out lollies and biscuits and stuff.

“My boys here, this group, (always ask me) ‘Are you right Sandra? Do you need this?’ They keep ringing. They text. They’re good boys. I can't knock them. If I had a million dollars, they'd all be rich.”