Now is a good time to check on your neighbour

Tomorrow is Neighbour day.

We are still deeply involved with the response to the floods and we see throughout our different activities expressions of profound trauma emerging from across communities. We have gone through an unprecedented disaster, and this shock has left scars. Despite an apparent return to normal life in many places around the Northern Rivers, the trauma is profound. Every day we hear stories of hope, but every day we also hear harrowing stories. We are witnessing many people affected by the floods only now coming to seek support. We still meet people who have had no support at all since the floods hit. 

Now more than ever is a good time to reach out to our neighbours, to offer them to tell their story of the floods, to gently see if they need some help, and perhaps to caringly direct them to existing support services.

We can create a web of caring support for each other. Each in our own way, each with our own skills. Some of us can listen, others bake, mow a lawn, help move furniture, clean a house, sing a song. We can simply see our neighbours, and be present for them, in our own way. 

Neighbours don’t have to be best friends, but can we be better neighbours?

If this message resonates with you, check on your neighbours this weekend… and beyond.