With wildfires continuing to blaze throughout southern Australia, the situation may be dire—but in the wake of tragedy, there is always a slew of people, celebrities, religious groups, and organizations rallying to offer support.
This week, teams of Muslims from the Australian Islamic Center began cooking meals for exhausted firefighters across East Gippsland. The group also distributed several truckloads worth of food, emergency supplies, and resources across the region.
In the very same area, chefs from the Sikh Volunteers Australia set up their own mobile kitchen so they could feed firefighters and bushfire evacuees.
On the international front, Canada and the United States have collectively deployed more than 200 volunteer firefighters over the course of the last month to help contain the blazes as part of an international coalition to combat wildfires.
As a means of helping animals that have been rescued from the fires, needleworkers from around the world have crafted thousands of mittens, jumpers, blankets, and nests for Australian wildlife organizations—and they have raised almost $5 million in donations for wildlife hospitals.
Furthermore, the family of Steve Irwin has already treated hundreds of animals rescued from the wildfires at their hospital in Queensland.
A number of Hollywood A-listers and famous folk from all walks of life have also contributed to wildfire relief efforts. For starters, an online fundraiser created by Australian comedian Celeste Barber has raised a whopping $30 million in just one week—which is roughly $10,000 in donations per minute.
This is where your money is going. Thank you. #firecrisis pic.twitter.com/SSXAPsLMtL
Australian actress Nicole Kidman made an Instagram post earlier this week stating that she had donated $500,000 to Rural Fire Services, while pop star Pink donated an additional $500,000 to local firefighting departments as well.
Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty, who is ranked number one in the world in singles by the Women's Tennis Association, has announced that if she wins the Brisbane International tournament, she will be donating every cent of the $382,000 prize money to the Red Cross.
The Australian children's entertainment group The Wiggles have reunited for the first time since 2012 so they can play two shows in New South Wales and donate all of the concert proceeds to wildfire relief. The concerts, which reportedly sold out in five minutes, will take place on January 17th and 18th.
OG Wiggles reunion show to raise some much-needed funds for bushfire relief. ALL proceeds from the show will be going to the Australian Red Cross and WIRES.Over 18s show. Tickets go on sale tomorrow Jan 7th at 10:00am. Head to https://t.co/utDuq8SH1a for more info. pic.twitter.com/PsurpTFFor
Finally, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged more than $1.4 billion USD ($2 billion AUD) in taxpayer money to create a national recovery fund for wildfire-afflicted citizens.
While there have been dozens of other individual stories of compassion and charity on the home front as well, these headlines have all proven that the world is standing behind Australia until the last of the bushfires have been extinguished.
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