By CAROLINE STRAINIG
LIFELINE’S chief executive officer has called on the community to be vigilant after someone set fire to their Central Road store in Port Macquarie in the early hours of Monday morning.
“I know we are not the only ones vandalised in this way, and we as a community need to be pro-active. If you see anything suspicious going on as you drive past, please, please alert the police,” CEO Catherine Vaara said.
“I am just so thankful that a postal worker happened to go past the store and rang the fire brigade and police and they were there within minutes.”
The opportunity shop, Lifeline’s largest in the Hastings, sustained substantial fire and smoke damage after vandals set it alight. Police are investigating, but one of the store’s volunteers, a North Shore Fire Brigade officer, said it looked as if some accelerant was used, possibly petrol. He believed the vandals first poured the accelerant into two clothing-collection bins outside and set them alight and then smashed the adjacent window and poured accelerant in so they could set the shop alight.
Ms Vaara put damage at between $15,000 and $20,000 and said the building was insured, but all the donated goods were not covered by insurance.
Of most concern, was that the store was the main source of revenue for funding Lifeline’s suicide prevention work and crisis-relief work and while it was out of action they would face a major shortfall in funding.
She urged everyone to support Lifeline’s other stores in Gordon Street, Port Macquarie and Cameron Street, Wauchope. She asked that people hang on to clothing and furniture they would like to donate to the Central Road store until it was up and running again, at which time Lifeline would do a donation drive.
Long-time Central Road store manager Troy Terp said the volunteer staff were shattered when they found out about the attack, but quickly bounced back. The most severely damaged section could not be touched until an insurance assessor had been, but within hours volunteers were busily cleaning sections of the store that had suffered only minor smoke damage.
“Their dedication constantly astounds me,” Mr Terp said. “We would be nothing without our volunteers.”
