It is our pleasure to invite you to a Sundowner event celebrating the official launch of the EQUIP project for Denmark, alongside the opening of this year’s Bushfire Ready Weekend.

EQUIP is a five year (fully federally funded) research trial of mental health preparation and skills training for rural communities at risk of natural disasters, and Denmark is one of nine sites across Australia chosen to participate. In collaboration with universities across the nation, the EQUIP project will be co-designed and co-delivered by our community, ensuring relevance and continuity beyond the research trial. EQUIP marks a shift from recovery-based approaches, and brings emotional and relational preparation alongside our longer-standing practical preparations for disasters.

This year the Sundowner event also offers the opportunity to report data demonstrating the real-world outcomes of the last three years of Denmark Bushfire Ready. This was recently presented at the prestigious Australian Disaster Resilience Conference. The evening's program also includes a Seasonal Outlook by the Bureau of Meterology, and an outline of this year's weekend events. Denmark is proud to share that we hold the largest Bushfire Ready event in Australia, and this year's event is even bigger and better.

As a valued member of our community, we hope you will be able to join us. Your presence reinforces our shared commitment to improving disaster resilience for the community of Denmark and emphasises the critical nature of this work to all our residents.

Doors open at 4.30pm, with official proceedings commencing at 5pm and scheduled to finish at 6.30pm. Canapes will be served; we encourage you to book a table for dinner in the Tavern restaurant afterwards.

While entry is open to the public, providing your RSVP will help to finalise catering for the event and ensure all dignitaries are welcomed appropriately.