Bathurst resident Lee Barnes has taken the time to thank the local community for their support as her and her family recover from a house fire that destroyed their home last month.
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The community effort saw $5060 raised from a GoFundMe page set up by Ms Barnes' niece, Emma, as well as $3145 raised by fellow Glenray Industries colleague Lisa Wood among close friends and family.
Glenray also launched a donation drive for members of the community to offer cash, gift cards, furniture and further household items to the Barnes family.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the fire, Ms Barnes said the support has been overwhelming.
"The community has been amazing; even people I don't know have donated, which highlights how generous Bathurst can truly be," she said.
"The donations and good will were humbly received, and I cannot thank the community enough."
Ms Wood played a major role in organising the donation drive through Glenray, and fellow colleague Karen Eather donated clothing to the Barnes family on the day of the fire.
In addition, the Bathurst Correctional Centre staged a raffle, Panorama Bathurst put the Barnes family up at a cheaper rate, and Charles Sturt University's Jan Inwood provided the family with temporary accommodation until they secured a rental.
"We also received some welcome donations from Inside Outside's Marty and Kylie Ryan, Deeper Sleep and Bathurst mayor Bobby Bourke, and Pets at Peace waived the cremation fees for the cat we lost in the fire," she said.
"We've now secured a rental property, so we're simply looking forward to getting on with being a family."
"We truly cannot thank the community enough for helping us out and if anything tragic were to happen to anyone else, we'd do the same."
Ms Barnes, her partner Chris Eather and sons Nathan and Beau, lost their West Street home to an early morning fire on December 19.
She also thanked the firefighters for their efforts in the line of danger to ensure the safety of neighbouring residences.
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Sam Bolt
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
