On Saturday 7th February, now known in Australia as “Black Saturday”, Melbourne, Victoria recorded its highest ever daily temperature of 45.6 degrees Celsius with wind speeds of up to 150 km/h. This created the worst conditions for bushfires in the country’s history and resulted in many fires across the state of Victoria. There were 4 very severe fires resulting in the loss of over 200 lives, many towns were destroyed with over 2,000 homes burnt to the ground. Lawrence & Hanson Group (L&H Group), Sonepar’s Australian subsidiary, had many staff, customers and suppliers affected with the loss of family and friends as well as their homes.
The week following on from these devastating fires, the Connections Conference in Melbourne was scheduled to begin. Organized by L&H Group, the Connections Conference is the culmination of the rewards program with over 2,000 customers, staff and suppliers involved. “As a business, we decided to continue with this program and use it as an opportunity to raise some money to support the victims of the fires. During the week, we raised over AU$70,000 (37,000 euros) through company donations, auctions and donation bins throughout our trade show.” says Robin Norris, Managing Director of L&H Group.
After this disaster, we have opened a new branch in Kinglake (Victoria), one of the worst hit areas. L&H Group is assisting in the re-building of this area by being “on-the-ground” with electrical and safety products for electrical contractors and builders in an effort to get whole communities up and running again. It is a credit to staff, customers and suppliers’ L&H Group who have joined together and offered any assistance possible, contributed time and money and also supported each other through this very difficult time.
