Supporting our business, staff
and fellow islanders
Sadly, as you are no doubt aware, the bush-fires on Kangaroo Island have devastated almost half of our beautiful island. Many of our friends out west have been greatly affected and it’s not over yet! As everyone in our small but resilient community pitches in both now and into the future recovery phase, we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their texts, emails, messages, donations and concern – it has been overwhelming for us all.
Impact on The Oyster Farm Shop
& Kangaroo Island Shellfish
Thankfully our operations at American River have not been directly affected by the fire however, we have been affected both at the individual level with our staff, and at a business level as tourist numbers have subsequently plummeted in the middle of our tourist season.
We thank our staff and are so very grateful for their efforts during this tough time. They have all been affected in some way or another, the ripple effect on the island is real! Some staff have had family properties lost, most have been on alert for evacuation for several weeks and many have been volunteering their time to help where they can. We and our staff are doing what we can to help; including some helping fight fires with CFS and in farm trucks on their friend’s and family’s properties, many making donations of time, cooking, transport and donating products needed etc. Meanwhile we have had a skeleton staff working hard to keep up with farm operations so that our stock doesn’t suffer.
We aim to keep helping our fellow Islanders as individuals, and as a business. We want to keep operating and keep our team employed. We will obviously encourage a tourism bounce-back as soon as possible after the immediate threats have gone.
How can you help
Mainlanders who love our oysters can get on board with our Mainland Mollusc Run which we have been trialling over the last month or so. We have a Facebook group called Mainland Mollusc Run that you can join to be kept up to date on the details of each run.
We now also offer to collect $10 for each box of oysters to donate to the Kangaroo Island Mayoral Relief and Recovery Bushfire Fund.
We are aiming to ship 100 boxes out over the next few weeks before the end of the 19/20 oyster season. This will raise $1000 for the Kangaroo Island Mayoral Relief and Recovery Bush Fire Fund and keep our staff busy - which they will appreciate!
We will need to fine tune transport as our freight company Deliver IT has been impacted by the tourism drop and has reduced their runs to and from the island. We will keep you up to date with this info on our Facebook group so please join.
Mainland Mollusc Bushfire Run details
For $190 you will receive:
· 10 dozen fresh Kangaroo Island wholeshell oysters (live, closed)
· Complimentary shucking knife
· Delivery to an agreed address or pickup from a mainland destination
· And you will donate $10 to Kangaroo Island Mayoral Relief and Recovery Bushfire Fund that we will collect and contribute.
This offer will run for at least 2-3 weeks or until the end of our oyster season.
To order:
Ring the Farm Shop 08 8553 7122 to order
Pay upon ordering via credit card
Arrange delivery address, time/date
Thanks again for your concern
and your continued support!
