I was so heartened to receive an email last month from Helen and John, a couple living at Coraki in northern NSW who were heavily impacted by the recent floods.
The message was full of praise for a number of businesses who provided them and their neighbours with accommodation and transport, as well as housing, building and personal care supplies while they were in Port Macquarie.
Their journey from Coraki to Port Macquarie started when they were due to have their car serviced at specialist Renault service outlet, John Oxley Motors.
But when the couple's car was submerged in floodwaters prior to departure, they called the business for help.
Instead of cancelling the service, the team at John Oxley Motors offered to fully replace both theirs and their neighbours' vehicles. It was the start of a number of incredible stories that Helen shared in her correspondence to me about how our local businesses bent over backwards to help them.
Helen praised the efforts of Bristol paints, Anaconda, Gossip Hair Studio, Rydges, KFD Kitchens and Total Tools whom she said all went above and beyond to get the pair back on their feet.
She insisted that I recognise these businesses, and I could not be happier to do so.
Reading her story brought tears to my eyes and reminded me of the type of sacrifices we all made for one another back in March 2020 when we were faced with a similar fate.
It was you - the community - who were the first responders in the devastating floods. And we should never forget what happened in the days, weeks and months after, when we saw such kind and generous offers of support extend to those who needed it most.
I am so glad to see that the type of lessons we learned from helping one another has continued. We should all be extremely proud of ourselves for making Helen and John's life that little bit easier.
