REAL COOL STORIES (week ended 1/25/20)

REAL COOL STORIES (week ended 1/25/20)

This week I would like to focus on the bushfires in Australia.  Fire season in Australia is always dangerous. But conditions have been unusually severe this year, fanning the flames and making firefighting conditions particularly difficult.

This season’s fires, which began early, have in the past four months claimed the lives of 33 people, millions of animals and have charred an area nearly the size of Greece. One estimate is over one-half BILLION animals have been killed.

Thousands of homes and other structures have been destroyed mostly in New South Wales.  These tragedies have inflicted psychological and physical damage to many Australians.

There is a positive side though.  The Australian people have been increasingly coming together to aid one another as the country looks to rebuilding. Some 53% of Australians have donated to a bushfire appeal during this season, a survey conducted by the fundraising and marketing consultancy More Strategic in partnership with the Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) showed over the weekend.

Nearly half of the donations went to a collection organized on behalf of a charity, while 14% have donated through Facebook.

Estimates on total money collected vary, as donations keep pouring from Australia and abroad, with some Australian media saying hundreds of millions of dollars have come in so far.

While the fires are hot, this a real, cool story of the spirit of the Australian people!