It started with a single marquee with a box of fruit and vegetables.
But more than a fortnight on since floodwaters ravaged the northern NSW town of Lismore, the Koori Mail's makeshift recovery centre has become a full-scale operation.
The national Indigenous newspaper has been leading recovery efforts despite losing its entire offices in the devastating floods.
For the first time in its three-decade history, it was unable to publish.
"Thirty years of the Koori Mail, the legacy of the Koori Mail, washed away but the spirit of the Koori Mail is still here, and I think that has allowed us to do what we're doing now to support our community," general manager Naomi Moran said.
It's now destroyed two-storey building has become a grassroots ground zero providing basic supplies to medical assistance.
The garage is a grocery store filled with donated canned food, baby goods and cleaning supplies, or as Ms Moran, a Dunghutti and Nyangbal/Arakwal woman, calls it "Koori Coles".
Locals can also see a doctor on-site, talk to a counsellor in a safe space and even take some much-needed time out with a massage.
"It's literally making sure people are surviving not just after the waters have receded, but I guess their whole wellbeing in this process, and we're doing everything we can to take a holistic approach to what this recovery means," Ms Moran said.
The Koori Mail set up its own recovery efforts for the Bundjalung community — including for the smaller townships of Cabbage Tree Island, Coraki and Gundarimba mission — "throwing away the red tape and bureaucracy" after a lack of response from the government.
Ms Moran said it took about six days for local representatives to see what they had achieved.
The Prime Minister didn't pay them a visit when he was in the region after the floods.
"I think if he was here, he probably wouldn't be ready for the response that we were going to give him and I really think this is a great example of what can be achieved when there is no political agendas," she said.
Instead, the hub relies solely on donations and now provides for the whole community.
Volunteer and Bundjalung woman Ella Bancroft said they've been 'incredibly well-resourced by the community but not by "anyone from the top".
The centre has been a lifeline to local Robert Corowa whose home was completely inundated.
"I still haven't got anywhere to live. I'm just staying in a shed at the back of a friend's house. It's still a bit shocking at the moment," he said.
Mr Corowa is waiting for his home to be assessed to determine whether it will be condemned or safe to move back into.
Most days he makes his way down to the centre to grab a bite to eat, get supplies and have a chat with others feeling the same displacement.
"I can't believe the help I've received," he said.
"Lucky the community here in Lismore is very strong and I commend [them] for pulling together — black and white — it's been a courageous effort."
Volunteers from near and wide are pitching in to carry loads of donations trucked in from around the country.
An online fundraising fund, the Bundjalung Flood Relief Fund, has already raised over $740,000.
Goonellabah man Noel King has been helping since the hub began.
"It feels good to be a part of something I believe is going to make change — change the way non-Indigenous people think about Aboriginal people."
Redfern community leader and Tribal Warrior CEO Shane Phillips wasted no time in travelling from Sydney.
He and his crew have been volunteering since Saturday week.
"There's lots of trauma, lots of trauma we're seeing it every day, but we're seeing how it's managed and there's love here and I can't even describe how awesome it is to see."
Dunghutti and Gumbaynggirr man Dennis Kelly, from Nambucca Heads, has been utilising his cleaning and labouring skills to help clear waste off Lismore streets after his own work stopped because of rain.
For him, it was a "no-brainer" to help.
"First time I got here it was just like a warzone I literally thought I was in a movie... it was just devastating people losing everything, their homes, their memorabilia," he said.
"It's gonna be hard to rebuild this town but this is just the start here with the spirit they have here and the comradery — it's powerful and amazing what people can do."
