It is a pretty simple concept.
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Match someone who doesn't have a bed with someone who does.
Seeing residents sleeping in cars or in an evacuation chair after they fled or lost their homes in a bushfire prompted Erin Riley to do something practical to help.
From there, Find A Bed was created and the volunteer organisation has not stopped growing.
Ms Riley lives in Razorback, in the Macarthur region of NSW, which came close to being burnt in the Green Wattle Creek fire.
Thankfully, she was not directly affected but people in neighbouring towns had to evacuate last month.
As she lives on a large rural property, she put out a tweet offering for anyone who needed to evacuate with animals to stay with her.
"It got retweeted a lot," Ms Riley said.
"Other people replied saying they had space too and I thought, 'there has got to be a more efficient way to do this'.
"Then Find a Bed was born."
Ms Riley said the next steps were simple.
She created a free website on December 31, with links to Google forms, for people to input their details if they needed accommodation or could provide a place to stay.
"It only took 40 minutes to create the website," Ms Riley said.
"I tweeted the link and within a day we had reached 100 people, and had the first request for help that night.
"Within a couple days, 5000 people signed up."
Through the initiative, more than 8500 people have offered accommodation and more than 100 matches have been made.
We are going to try to be a practical source of help for the communities as they continue to rebuild.
- Erin Riley
Ms Riley, co-founder Paige Burton and their dedicated team of volunteers have placed 250 people in short, mid and long term accommodation in mainly in the South Coast, Victoria and South Australia.
Ms Riley said there had been a real mix of people who used the service.
"We helped people looking for short term accommodation, usually while they had to evacuate with their pets," she said.
"As well as people who needed a place to stay indefinitely, because services such as power had been off. And people who had lost their homes. We are going to try to be a practical source of help for the communities as they continue to rebuild."
Ms Riley was "absolutely overwhelmed" with the amount of work required to meet the demand and popularity of the initiative.
"If it wasn't for my amazing team of volunteers, I would have struggled," she said. "I am excited to provide meaningful assistance to people who need it."
Ms Riley has dedicated more than 150 hours of time to the cause in the past 18 days and had some nights where she barely got any sleep.
That's why when Ms Burton got in contact a few days after the website launched, Ms Riley was eager to bring her on board, especially because of Ms Burton's experience in community organising and campaigning.
Ms Burton also brought a network of volunteers with her.
"Paige runs the operation as much as I do," Ms Riley said. "She really knows her stuff."
Ms Riley said the recipients of accommodation or items were so grateful for the assistance from Find A Bed volunteers.
One of those recipients was Aunty Gloria, an Aboriginal elder from Mogo whose house burnt down.
"She really wanted to stay on country," Ms Riley said. "We saw that she was looking for a caravan and we had a number of people who had contacted us to offer theirs.
"We got in touch with the owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, as that caravan sounded like the best match.
The team also fundraised and supplied 16 generators to families and they are working closely with local business in affected areas.
"When we know there is a need, we will pay for items in those stores and people can pick them up from the shop," Ms Riley said. "That means the money stays in the local community.
"The more we talk to people in affected communities, we realise there is a real gap in the services. A lot of the time, people aren't getting what they need as quickly as they need it. We are hoping to plug that gap as often as we can."
Ms Riley said the organisation's focus had shifted as the communities they were helping, started to rebuild.
Ms Riley said the organisation started raising money, through a GoFundMe page, this week and 100 per cent of donations would go to victims to buy what they needed.
For example, Ms Riley said the team was helping a Queensland woman who had lost her home two months ago.
"The woman lost a room full of animal tiger memorabilia, everything from stuffed toys, photos and collectables," the co-founder said.
"All she wants is a box of mystery books and some tiger-themed items. That would make her feel at home again."
Ms Riley said the team was also working with a family in Batemans Bay who had lost everything and already had a hard couple of years prior.
"There are five kids," she said. "The family have rented a house but they don't have any furniture.
"The team is raising money so we can buy furniture from the shops down in the town, so the money stays in the local community."
Find A Bed have a $100,000 fundraising goal.
"We need people to donate money," Ms Riley said. "Every dollar will go to those affected by the bushfires.
"Sometimes it is quicker to have money in the bank so we can meet people's needs sooner."
Ms Riley said she was committed to being transparent with how all the money was being spent and would be posting receipts on Twitter.
The team will set itself up as a formal organisation with plans to become a not-for-profit rather than a charity as the latter could not be involved in any political activities.
"One the important changes we can help make is through lobbying the government to change caravan laws," the co-founder said.
"We are hoping for an exemption to the law so people can stay in their caravans for more than 60 days a year, which is the current limit.
"That exemption would be for people directly affected by the bushfires.
"That's the kind of work we hope to continue to do."
The university student is completing her PhD but has some time now, and an understanding thesis supervisor, so she can dedicate herself to continuing the organisation's good work.
"We are 100 per cent volunteer-based at the moment and we have no intention of changing that," Ms Riley said.
"We are committed to ensuring 100 per cent of the money people donate goes directly to fire-affected residents not to administrative costs."
Ms Riley, who has worked in the communications and media industry, grew up in Oak Flats, a suburb of Shellharbour south of Wollongong, and is the third generation in her family to live in the suburb.
Her parents raised her to be an active member of the Oak Flats Anglican Church. That's where she believes her strong sense of community started.
"I really value the idea of community," she said. "I don't like the way we are sometimes encouraged to be selfish or to think 'what is in it for me'.
"That is not the way I want to live or how I want to raise my daughter.
"Throughout my life, I have looked for opportunities to live by those values and Find A Bed was another one of those chances."
Ms Riley said people could also help by following the organisation on social media or by volunteering their time through registering on the website, www.findabed.info