Donations and Support

One really amazing thing to come from the ashes of our personal tragedy has been the support, resources and sympathy that our friends, colleagues, neighbours, families and even the school community have given us.

We bear a debt of gratitude to so many that I dare not list them here for fear of missing out someone whose contribution was subtle or so early on that we missed noting their contribution while we were in shock.

I tried to keep a diary of contributors, so that we could thank them properly, but who knows who we have missed in those early hours on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Collectively and individually Meryl's and my friends, colleagues and neighbours helped me and mine by providing generous cash donations, accommodation, clothing, linen and goods, cared for our pets, helped with the retrieval and cleaning of stuff from the house, lent furniture or even brought around casseroles and soups so that we didn't have to use precious time preparing evening meals.

Some exceptionally generous people did all this and more. Some organised donations of meals, cash and recreation events from several of the local clubs and venues. An otherwise tragic Mother's Day was boosted to "best ever" status by the local Burns' Club donation of an evening meal for 7 at club expense. Still others provided my children with small gifts to replace those that they had bought or made for Mother's day.

We even received a card and some cash from people who didn't know us, but knew our dog, Digit, and who wanted to help out Digit's family. (Digit is a small-time escape artist who entertains families who visit our local park by bringing them sticks, rocks and other things to throw.

The Principal and community of St Thomas the Apostle primary school unhesitatingly waived school fees for the term and arranged a number of events to raise a substantial sum of money towards our recovery as did my workplace at Centrelink and Meryl's workplace at The Canberra Hospital.

We were overwhelmed by the strength of our friends collective generosity and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your contributions. As a direct result, we have been able to restart "normal" life in our rental accommodation. We don't own much, but we are warm, safe and comfortable.

I offer you all my heartfelt thanks.

Michael