Aussie Fires

Not sure if you've been following the news in Australia about the fires, but it's really sad. I listened to this story on Monday morning on NPR and sat crying in the driveway in my little Honda for a bit. Below is an email and photograph I received from my Australian friends, Shirley and Bruce. We met this fall in Italy.

"Thought you overseas friends would like to see something beautiful from something very tragic. You may not know but we have had terrible fires recently in Victoria the other side of Australia from us, so far we have heard that 187 people have lost their lives which unfortunately includes children. Many animals were also destroyed by the fire, but the picture shows our native Koala Bear(she has been named Sam) being given a drink by a volunteer fire fighter, she has badly burnt feet, which are being treated, she survived but many didn't. So much destruction was caused by the fires it looks like a bomb went off, we are close to tears when we watch it on TV. The Australian people are very gutsy and so many people are giving their time to help, we are in the process of fund raising which we thought would be hard due to the downturn but people have opened their hearts with their wallets. Many Australian actors have rallied to the cause, including Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Naomi Watts, Russell Crowe,Hugh Jackman, just to name a few, anyway just thought I would send you this to let you know what is happening in Aussie. Love to you all, Shirley and Bruce"