The Bangladeshi community in Kogarah has made a "big-hearted and generous" donation to Blue Mountains residents recovering from the recent bushfires.
Aziz Bhuiyan and a small group of people representing his community in the Kogarah electorate travelled to NSW Parliament this week to present Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle with a cheque for $8400 towards the bushfire recovery of Blue Mountains residents.
"The donation from Mr Bhuiyan and his community is big-hearted and generous, and I feel very grateful that they chose to support our community," said Ms Doyle.
"Other communities, such as those on the South Coast and up north in Rappville, lost more than we did and got more coverage, but as a consequence many in the Mountains feel forgotten. But, Blue Mountains people are still hurting, and still need help."
Kogarah MP Chris Minns organised the event at Parliament House after Mr Bhuiyan approached him about helping a fire-impacted community directly.
Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill welcomed the generous donation to his mayoral relief fund from the Kogarah community.
"I, too, would like to extend my sincere thanks to Aziz and his community for this generous donation. The great thing about the fund is that money raised is guaranteed to go to local Blue Mountains' residents who have been directly affected by the recent bushfires, and this will go some way in helping locals recover from what was a long and heart-breaking summer," he said.
Blue Mountains residents could get the chance to thank Mr Bhuiyan in person with a possible visit on the cards from the Bangladeshi community.
"Aziz told me that he is very keen to bring a larger contingent of his community up to the Mountains to hold a Bangladeshi barbecue, and meet some of the people who were impacted by fire, and I'm very much looking forward to hosting them," said Ms Doyle.
For more information on donating to the mayoral relief fund, head to www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/MRF.
