Lismore fitness club owner Matt George inspires community's post-flood recovery

The disastrous floods that impacted the Northern Rivers region of NSW at the end of February and beginning of March have seen Matt George, owner of Lismore’s Summit Health and Fitness, step in to help drive the recovery of his community.

While his gym, located east of Lismore in Goonellabah, was not impacted by the floods, George opened the facility on Monday 28th February and Tuesday 1st March as an emergency shelter and evacuation centre for flood-impacted residents with over 70 individuals and families making use of the gym’s floor space.

Immediately after that, with almost all of Lismore’s supermarkets and food retailers out of operation, he converted the gym’s space to a foodbank.

As George notes “before the emergency services and bureaucracy kicked in we were able to help those who’d been affected by floods and needed food, water, medical supplies and more.

“Drawing the community together, we were just locals getting stuff done.”

However, with Goonellabah located 10 minutes’ drive east of Lismore and away from the worst of the flood damage, George soon realised that with people unable to purchase fuel to make the journey to the foodbank, the facility would have to relocate.

As a result, he teamed with Karen Willott, owner of a used furniture warehouse in Lismore (from which she lost everything in the floods, including her income source), to create a larger distribution centre for resources.

The warehouse at 51 Wyrallah Road, Lismore is now distributing huge quantities of food, water, medical supplies to those in need, supported by generous donations from the community and across the country.

In particular, they have been accepting donations of non-perishable food, toiletries, cleaning products and medical supplies that are then made available for free to those who need it.

As George is pleased to note “we have trucks, semi-trailers rolling in with resources … with resources coming in and goods are flying out the door at a similar rate.

“We’ve even helped support some of the military now on the ground”

Amid all this Summit Health and Fitness will reopen as of today (Monday 14th March), returning to normal business operations including group fitness classes, personal training, EMS and swim lessons and squads.

Again extending his generosity, George advises “we understand that the community has suffered greatly in the last two weeks and if required, we will timestop or cancel any memberships with no fees.”

He adds “Summit plays a vital role in looking after people’s mental and physical well-being (and we)  recognise that these are uncertain times are not the time to be locked in to any membership.”

 George, who will continue his free foodbank in the Lismore CBD, as well as operating his Summit Health and Fitness, concludes "this is a huge community effort now. It's much bigger than Summit staff and members or any individual.

"We will get through this together."

Images: Matt George [right] with volunteers at the Lismore foodbank (top), Matt George with Karen Willott at the facility (middle) and George’s Summit Health and Fitness will reopen today (below).