You may have noticed heart banners returning to the CBD and residential areas of the flood zone and if local business owner Rebecca Ryan has her way, hearts will be fluttering all over town in the coming weeks.

“What I would like is every single house and building in the entire town to have a heart banner,” Ms Ryan told the Lismore App as she took a break from ironing hundreds of metres of fabric in her Lismore Heights home.

Rebecca’s gift shop on Keen Street - the Curious Kookaburra, which featured work of local craftspeople – was inundated by floodwater and the majority of stock was lost.

Keen to continue in a creative way beyond the clean-up, Rebecca has reignited the heart banner concept which was initiated after the 2017 flood.

“I was aware there were heart banners being made in 2017 then I got on social media to find out who had coordinated it last time. I believe it was the owner of Black Sombrero and she’s no longer in the area. I found another friend who was also involved and took inspiration,” Rebecca explained.

Rebecca went on to explain that the focus is simply about showing love and compassion for all those in need of support.

“The reason that I decided to do this was a little bit multifaceted. First of all, I wanted to do something for the community. At first, I was in the mud, cleaning and scrubbing and its exhausting. I had people offering to help but they weren’t physically able to or had children at home to look after. So many people who haven’t lost their homes or businesses are feeling helpless, they want to help but don’t know how. It’s hard for everyone in different ways.”

How can you help?

Love for Lismore is the name of the heart banner project and there are a few ways community members can contribute.

Donations of fabric are welcome.

“Donation of fabric is fantastic – sheets, doona covers and curtains are perfect, even if they’re damaged, we can work around them. I’d prefer to use upcycled,” Rebecca said.

“People can donate time to sew the banners. If people aren’t in the area, we can email them a template and instructions and they post them back for distribution. Or if people can’t sew, they can either volunteer to deliver banners or cut out hearts,” she added.

“I’m taking the donations of banners and fabric at home, in Lismore Heights. I’ve got some tubs set up out the front, so people message me and say ‘hey I want to make six banners’ and I pack up materials. They come pick it up and take them home, sew them up and bring them back.”

“I’ve had people requesting them and I can deliver or collect. This time we’re doing it for households and businesses. I think last time it was for businesses that were working to reopen. I’ve got a spreadsheet and we’re just filling the orders by request.”

Love for Lismore has so far delivered 50 banners to businesses and households around town and there are currently 20 requests to fill. And that’s just the beginning.

 “Inspiring people to be creative is what I feel like is my purpose and now that I don’t have my shop, I needed another outlet for it. Also, I know a lot of creative people who could contribute,” Rebecca concluded.

When requests are filled and more banners have been sewn up, Rebecca and her team will be around town to offer them to anyone who would like to share the love.

To contribute some love to the Love for Lismore project, use this link or email loveforlismore@gmail.com