COMMUNITIES in the New England North West are struggling to rebuild after devastating bushfires swept through last year, but a Tamworth mental health service has promised they won't be forgotten about.
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Billabong Clubhouse has been collecting donations and organising mental health support for bushfire victims in Wytaliba, near Glen Innes.
Community engagement officer Joe Miller made the trip up to the tiny village last Saturday to deliver a bounty of goods in person.
"We won't walk away and we won't forget you" is the message Billabong Clubhouse is trying to send.
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He said visiting the community was difficult, because people had such horrific stories of their bushfire experiences, but he said it felt good to be doing something.
Mr Miller dropped off blankets, clothing, and food for locals, among the donations.
Glen Innes Severn mayor Carol Sparks said the generosity of the donations was deeply felt in Wytaliba.
"People took them straight away, what they wanted, and anything left over was taken to the ... little shop so anything left over is for the people that couldn't attend," she said.
Cr Sparks said Mr Miller had been tirelessly trying to help since the fire ravaged the township late last year.
"Joe was very concerned about us all when the fire hit us," she said.
Inspired by a member who had lived in the Wytaliba area in her youth, Billabong Clubhouse ran a fundraiser in the days before Christmas to help get cash into the community.
Now, the organisation is reaching out to offer mental health support.
Although Billabong Clubhouse is based in Tamworth, Mr Miller said the group is organising mental health professionals and doctors to visit the locals on their home soil.
"I'm concerned about the mental health of all those people and ... they just need somebody to talk to and tell their stories too," he said.
"We won't walk away and we won't forget you."
Billabong Clubhouse is running an outreach program for bushfire victims in other parts of the New England North West.
Cr Sparks and Wytaliba residents were on hand to accept the donations.
"They were over the moon, they were really appreciative that somebody from outside had actually been there and ... gone to the effort of actually going up there," Mr Miller said.
Much of Wytaliba was burnt to the ground during the Kangawalla fire in November last year, in the midst of a horror fire season.