An Australian community is rallying around a widower and his six children who recently lost everything inthe devastating bushfires, just a month after the man’s wife died of cancer.
Back in October, Bill Morris faced the unimaginable when he lost “the love of his life” Elaine Morris to cancer, according to family friend Kylie Kinnish, who set up aGoFundMe pagefor the Morrises.
As they were working through their grief, things only got worse for the tight-knit family when fires ravaged their community a month later and destroyed their home, leaving Bill and his six children with next to nothing.
“The out of control bushfires have destroyed the home they had built together over the past 30 years at Upper Colo,” Kinnish wrote on the GoFundMe. “They raised their 6 beautiful children in this home and sadly not only are they now grieving the loss of their mother but the loss of all that was hers.”
The aftermath of the Australian fires.GoFundMe
Kinnish, whose mother was best friends with Elaine, posted a number of heartbreaking photos on GoFundMe, showing what was left of Morris family’s property and asked their loved ones for help in rebuilding their home.
Some of the photos that were posted showed piles of charred rubble and debris alongside the home’s folded structure. Other heartbreaking images captured the damage from the flames to the interior of the home and household appliances.
“The grief they are suffering after Elaine’s passing 3 weeks ago is heartbreaking,” Kinnish wrote on Nov. 16, one day after the fires came through. “And now today the Morris family are heading out to see the property for the first time since the fires… As you can imagine this will be another heartbreaking step for them to take.”
The aftermath of the fires.GoFundMe
Aftermath of the Australian fires.GoFundMe
That same day, one of Bill and Elaine’s daughters Georgia posted an update to her Facebook, which was also shared on the GoFundMe page.
In the post, Georgia revealed that her family was struggling to accept the loss of their mother and their home, but that their farm animals had luckily survived the blaze. She also shared a number of photos from the devastation, including one of the chickens on their property.
“Today was the first day that we returned to our childhood home after it was burnt down in the Gospers Mountain bushfire on Friday afternoon,” she wrote. “You can’t even put a word to how we are all feeling, devastated doesn’t even come close.”
Georgia went on to thank everyone who donated to help her family and to the Rural Fire Service volunteers for “trying to save our home” and for risking their lives each day to protect Australians from the deadly blaze.
“We are glad no one was injured trying to save our property,” she added. “I am also happy to report that EVERY SINGLE CHICKEN SURVIVED!”
The chickens that survived on the property.
Since its creation on Nov. 15, the GoFundMe campaign has raised over $62,000.
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The Morrises are part of the thousands of people who have been displaced and lost everything inthe devastating fires.
Since September, at least 25 people have been killed while a whopping 11-million acres have been wiped out with hundreds of homes and buildings destroyed, as well. A seven-day state of emergency was declared on Dec. 23.
As the more than 130 fires continue to burn across New South Wales and Victoria, ecologists from the University of Sydney believe almosthalf a billion animals have died.
As of Thursday, there were 2,000 firefighters working in New South Wales alone, with additional help arriving from the United States, Canada, and New Zealand.
source: people.com
