Today, good friend and colleague Jacqueline Pascarl forwarded on a link to the ABC Open blog in North Queensland.

It moved me to tears.

Guest blogger June Perkins wrote about meeting Jacqueline in August when she went to visit the local school in Lower Tully. You see, Jacqueline and a few other of us had been pretty busy at the start of 2011 reactivating Operation Angel after the Queensland Floods, Cyclone Yasi, the Christchurch Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.

As the natural disasters hit the communities, one after another, we wanted to do something, and this is how Operation Angel worked. We connected those people who wanted to give practical things – gumboots, tools, mozzie nets, sheets, towels, hand cream, and lots of undies – to those people who we’d never met and who had lost everything.

Social Media played a big role in mobilising people, spreading the word, creating awareness about what Operation Angel was up to, and giving easy ways to get involved. The Facebook page was and still is hugely active, the Twitter account had great outreach – our rhyming ditties, pics and heartfelt thank yous were simple but effective.

At the heart of it we wanted to alleviate some of the pain we were feeling for our fellow human beans by doing something to help them. It worked. We were happy. And Operation Angel has become quiet (thankfully) again, for the time being, until we are next needed.

So to watch this video and read June’s words and see how Operation Angel’s work impacted on the community was a jolt out of the blue.

Thank you June, for showing us the faces of those who were helped by Operation Angel’s efforts. I hope all those fabulous people who sent us undies, boxed up their tools, washed their towels and made pamper packs at the start of the year can also watch and read your blog.

We don’t need any recognition, this I know, but it is a nice reminder of why we took the time to reach out, and why we’ll do it again, and again, and again.

Watch June’s video and read her blog on ABC Open here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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September 14, 2011