As you may already know, we spent New Year’s Eve sleeping in our car at the evacuation centre of the New South Wales coastal town of Bermagui. At the time, the vast majority of Australia’s East Coast was experiencing unprecedented bushfires. As a result, we were evacuated from our property there.

Little did we know that within two months we would be facing an even bigger catastrophe.

Currently COVID-19 is dominating our news channels, conversations and thoughts. It is easy to forget that there are still many people trying to recover from the devastation of the bushfires. While all the fires are out, those affected are only just beginning to rebuild.

Blazeaid Donation

After our evacuation, I made a pledge to donate. For every ticket sold from my public storytelling workshops in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, I promised to donate $50 to the bushfire relief. While we managed to get the Sydney and Canberra workshops completed, we unfortunately had to postpone the Melbourne event due to COVID-19. However, we have honoured the $50 donation from the people that will attend the workshop when it is rescheduled.

So, this week I was happy to donate $2,900 to Blazeaid. This is a volunteer-based organisation that works with families and individuals in rural Australia after natural disasters such as fires and floods. They work alongside families to help rebuild fences and other structures that have been damaged or destroyed.

My husband Steve (pictured) introduced me to the tremendous work Blazeaid undertake in fire affected areas. He has been volunteering his time to help rebuild the fences on properties near Cobargo.

Blazeaid rely on donations and volunteers to undertake the work they do. Sadly, they have also been impacted by restrictions put in place due to Coronavirus but you can find out more from their website.

Virtual Training

Understandably, all my overseas speaking engagements and face-to-face training has been postponed. However, I am keeping busy by running virtual training on storytelling and how to present virtually (a relevant and popular topic considering our current environment) …plus starting work on the next book.

I hope you are coping the best you can.

Take care. Stay positive. Stay well.