“Never say no.”

That is the motto of Russell Wright, the co-ordinator of a global, but little-known organisation which has become part of the Kinglake community in the post-fire rebuild.

Global Care’s team has been based in Kinglake, but travels right across the fire affected region to “fill the gaps” in assistance to bushfire victims, doing everything from property clean up to voluntarily staffing local businesses

Mr Wright said that while some members of the team could only serve shorter terms, they were constantly replaced and the organisation expected to have a presence in the area for at least two years.

Other members had given up full-time and part-time jobs in other states, in exchange for bed, board and an open-ended period of volunteering in the Kinglake region.

“We’ve got 27 here at the moment from right across the country, north Queensland, there were some from Western Australia, Margaret River, some from Tassie, we’ve basically had them from everywhere except the Northern Territory so far,” Mr Wright said.

Resident Jenny Redman, whose house was in the hardest hit area of the town, said Mr Wright and his team had been the “dependable and reliable ones to lean on” after she and her husband narrowly escaped the Black Saturday blaze.

“They have a real position of trust here in the community and what they’re doing here, you just don’t have words,” Ms Redman said.

“Russell never says ‘no’, no matter what you ask him to do, what you need help with, he always says yes, just like that, then he figures out a way to get it done.”

Ms Redman said the Global Care team members, ranging in age from “really young, youth, lovely young people, to middle aged and even retirees” were filling the gaps that other service providers simply could not due to bureaucratic red tape or lack of resources.

“They do anything and everything; one of the guys manned the school crossing today, he was the lollipop man, they man the laundry and they’re still manning the local café,” she said.

“They’re trying to help the proprietor get the business up off the ground because things are in such a bad way, so they provide all the labour to run it free of charge and all the profits go straight to the proprietor.

“We were with them while they were putting up a lady’s annexe in the rain, they will just do anything.

“People in the com-munity have really come to trust them and they know they can depend on them for whatever they need.”

Global Care is a Christian Missions, Aid and Development Organisation that provides emotional, spiritual and physical support - along with effective aid relief - in areas of need.

It was established in 1996 under the auspices of the Christian Outreach Centre and its charter is to work as part of the community.

For more information visit www.globalcare.com.au.