Meet 12 everyday heroes making the lives of others better
Terror attacks, natural disasters, and the heartbreak of the bushfire crisis defined 2019. But from that come stories of those who push back in the toughest of times with compassion, bravery and the generous gift of giving.
NSW
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2019 has been a tough year with terror attacks, natural disasters and the heartbreak of the bushfire crisis, but from those ashes rise remarkable stories of those who push back in the toughest of times with compassion, bravery and the generous gift of giving. They walk among us, these angels who go above and beyond to make the world a better place for their fellow man, woman and child. This Christmas, we salute just a dozen of those who restore faith in humanity.
BLOOD ANGEL
Every two weeks, Colin Watson jumps in his 2001 Daewoo Nubira and makes a 250km round trip from Parkes to Dubbo to roll give blood.
At 65, Mr Watson has now made more than 350 donations since the first time in 1994.
“I reckon I’ve driven the equivalent of one and half times around the world,” he said.
As a pensioner, he says he can’t put his hand in his pocket any more but he can put a needle in his arm to give the gift of lifesaving blood.
“Every time I go, I grab my two cookies and it makes me feel good to know I might be saving some lives,” the grandfather of six said.
And he won’t be slowing down the donations over the Christmas break because that is when blood donations are most needed.
“We couldn’t do what we do without our donors, and Colin’s effort is incredible,” Nicky Breen from Red Cross Lifeblood said.
“We’d also urge people to donate blood over the Christmas period when a lot of our regular donors go away. Unfortunately the need for blood doesn’t take a holiday so if you want to give a very special gift this Christmas, give blood. Your donation will help to save three lives.”
Mr Watson, pictured giving his 350th donation recently, reckons he also bears a striking resemblance to Tom Cruise, so whoever gets his blood is pretty lucky.
MILK ANGEL
When Lucy Dore gave birth to Pippa 13 months ago, she started pumping breast milk to have a backup supply.
But when her freezer was full to the brim she decided she could share her milk with women who are struggling.
“Pippa was four months old and I just had so much milk, the deep freezer was full and I was never going to use it all and I just kept making more and more,” the West Wyalong mother said.
And then she heard about the Mothers’ Milk Bank Charity.
Established in 2009, the charity collects, screens, pasteurises and distributes donated mothers’ milk to infants where their mother’s own milk is not available. With the use of non-thermal pressure pasteurisation techniques, the milk retains its integrity, so there is no loss of antibodies or nutrients.
Mrs Dore, 25, has now donated more than 93 litres of breast milk.
“I know I’ve helped some premmie twins and that made me feel amazing,” she said.
“Being super blessed with my healthy daughter Pippa, who is 13 months and still going so strong breastfeeding, I'm still collecting extra of a minimum of 300ml a day plus exclusively feeding Pippa,” she said.
This effort is even more impressive given she has returned to work as a truck driver in a gold mine.
“I’ve returned to work part-time and I double pump at work too. I need to or I'll explode! I drive haul trucks at the Lake Cowal Evolution gold mine.
“It’s so, so hard being a breastfeeding mumma with shift work because when I come home and try to sleep, my breasts wake me up.
“But I’m determined to not let work stop me from breastfeeding. I'll just get up and feed Pip or pump after 3 hours of sleep, then try again to go back to sleep.”
Marea Ryan, founder and CEO of the Mothers’ Milk Bank Charity, said the donated breast milk was “as good as when the milk was expressed”.
In a decade the bank has distributed more than 23,000 litres of milk and helped over 11,000 babies.
“Lucy is an angel, she has gone above and beyond and we have lots of mums like her and they are inspired to help other mothers,” Ms Ryan said.
LONELY ANGEL
On Christmas morning, Carmel Morris from Quakers Hill will be volunteering with the Red Cross Telecross, a service that phones people who are isolated or elderly to check they are doing OK.
The service runs 365 days a year but Christmas Day is obviously one of the most important. Mrs Morris works in accounts during the week but every Saturday she volunteers for Telecross at its Blacktown office to ring the lonely and frail.
“I was at that age where I wanted to give back a little bit,” the 63-year-old grandmother said.
“I ring isolated and vulnerable people. There are so many people out there who are lonely. Quite often you are the only person they speak to all day.
“We have a 104-year-old lady we call as well. Most of the time they are happy and glad to talk to you. We chat about what they did during the week, or how the dog is, how they slept last night, stuff like that.
“I will be doing Christmas morning, I’ve done it before. It can be really happy, but also sad. For some people Christmas is just another day and they don’t want to mention it and they may just have a sandwich for lunch.
“A lot of the people I deal with do have some family but they are not nearby or in another country or isolated from family.”
Like all angels, Mrs Morris just wants to make the world a nicer place.
“I hope I make a difference, if you get pleasure from helping someone who needs it, it is very rewarding,” she said.
KNITTING ANGEL
Every evening 76-year-old Narelle Grey gets out her knitting needles and whips up a baby beanie or two.
Mrs Grey started making beanies for the Grace Centre for Newborn Intensive Care at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead last year and now donates regularly.
“I have always loved knitting and the four grandchildren no longer like hand-knit clothes,” she said.
“I just needed something to do and a friend asked me if I wanted to make little beanies for babies.”
She is currently making a batch the size of cupcakes for the babies who have been born premature. While the main reason for making the beanies is to help the babies, knitting has also been therapeutic for Narelle and has helped her to get the strength back in her wrists after she broke them both in a fall.
“When I sit down of a night in front of the television, I just knit. I can’t sit and do nothing and I can do eight to 10 in a week,” Mrs Grey said.
“I make small ones as some of the babies are very tiny. I sometimes see photos of the beanies on the baby’s heads and it’s really good. I’m doing something useful and it makes me feel good.”
GIFT ANGEL
Five years ago, British ex-pat Chantal Kinsella felt the need to give back to her new Sydney home, so the then 22-year-old volunteered for the Magic Moments Foundation’s Sydney Basket Brigade, which makes Christmas gift baskets for people in need.
“I was looking for an opportunity to help people in the community … Christmas can be a difficult time for some and it’s about giving back to those less fortunate,” she said.
She and big sister Annick joined Sydney Basket Brigade three years ago.
As well as holding down a day job in a law firm, Chantal puts in about a dozen hours a week in October, November and December mobilising donations and volunteers to make the 3000-plus baskets they send out each Christmas.
On December 7, more than 700 volunteers packed the goods into baskets of love.
“We fill them with the essentials like rice and pasta and then some gifts for the children,” she said.
“All the goods are donated. We did 3100 this year and they were split between those with accommodation and homeless packs were made up as well.
“It is good to be able to give back to people less fortunate because we are so privileged, it is the time of year to give.
“You see what it means to them to just get the basics that we take for granted and for them it is luxury. It is special and heartwarming,” she said.
KOALA ANGEL
The bushfire crisis has devastated millions of hectares of bushland and the wildlife that call it home. Images of burned koalas have broken hearts worldwide.
Barbara Barrett has been a long-term carer at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital and she has been run off her feet.
The 80-year-old retiree often brings her furry charges home if they need around-the-clock care. The hospital is caring for more than 30 burned koalas and Barbara has one juvenile male at home with her.
“I started as a volunteer but now I am a supervisor and do treatments such as injections and eye care. I am fascinated by koalas, they are just a unique little animal,” she said.
“I have a little one at home with me, he’d only be about two. He had burns to all paws and a burnt nose and singed all over. He is now down to just one paw bandaged and his nose is black again. He is a very placid little fellow and so calm.”
Barbara also brings home orphaned koala joeys, which means very little sleep.
“I do rear joeys and it is around the clock, you’re up every two hours,” she said.
What amazes Barbara is the fact koalas seem to sense when they are being helped and reach out.
“They do, it’s amazing, you give them a day and they seem to understand you are trying to help them,” she said.
FLYING ANGEL
Dr Marina Parente, 36, will be working on Christmas Day for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
The 26-year-old emigrated from Brazil to Dubbo with her husband and began working for the RFDS two years ago.
“For me, it has been amazing, such an experience,” she said.
“We work in retrieval and remote consultation with the bush clinics and I also work in the Dubbo Hospital emergency department, so for one job, I get so much experience,” she said.
Far from being a quiet time, the Christmas break is usually frantic for the angels of the sky. Last year, over the three-day Christmas break, the RFDS in NSW conducted 529 flights to retrieve 290 patients, flew 618 hours and covered 200,449km.
“It can be so unpredictable, many people drink too much at this time so there are more accidents but there is never a dull moment, anything can happen,” she said.
“It doesn’t bother me working Christmas, as a doctor you are always working when others aren’t. I’ve been doing it for 10 years now, so I expect to do it.”
COOKING ANGEL
Alison Rushworth will spend Christmas in the kitchen but the 58-year-old won’t be cooking for her family, she will be preparing lunch for the residents of the Salvation Army William Booth addiction services centre in Surry Hills.
Clients stay at the centre for as long as nine months to detox from drugs and alcohol and go through the step program to recover.
For many, this will be their first Christmas sober and away from their families.
Ms Rushworth, a support worker, has been with the service for four years.
“Normally the residents help in the kitchen but on Christmas Day, the staff will do all the food preparation and serving to make sure the residents have a good day,” she said.
“There will be prawns for starters and the roast pork and turkey.
“It can be an emotional day for them, a lot are estranged from family because of their addiction.”
And she knows from personal experience what it is like. Six years ago she went through William Booth to recover from her own drug addiction.
“It’s all about giving back. I find it very rewarding,” she said.
“I have been through the program and struggled with addiction and it inspired them to know it can be done, there is a way out.”
After lunch, Ms Rushworth will head home to Strathfield to cook dinner for her four children and four grandchildren.
LIFE ANGEL
Many parents are awake before dawn on Christmas Day thanks to excited children. Kirsty Reid will be up before 6am — but to work on the phones as a crisis supporter at Lifeline’s Gordon centre.
“Everything is heightened at Christmas time,” the 60-year-old mother of two said.
“If have people have money worries, or relationship worries, or they feel isolated or lonely or struggling with their mental health, it is highlighted at Christmas because there is this feel-good factor on TV and adverts and social media.
“People feel more marginalised, more alone and more anxious at Christmas than other times.”
She began volunteering a decade ago and now works as a supervisor at Lifeline.
“You feel very valued because you can contribute on a day when one assumes the vast majority of people are having a good time,” she said.
“You feel valued — you are there to support people who don’t have that, or feel they don’t have that in their lives.”
She said life truly is the greatest gift and helping save it is vital work.
“We had one incident where the police — it is rare for them to ever call back — but they found someone in a spot who had called us and they called and said: ‘Thank you for letting us know about this person, another life saved’,” she said.
“It is rewarding, there so many rewards — self-esteem, self-knowledge.
“We don’t talk about individual cases but overall if there was a type of call that sticks with me it is women who are trapped in abuse and the futility of their thought process.
“So it is (about) supporting them to empower them and enable them to think about their situation and see how they can change their thought process to help themselves to get out.
“We don’t really consider ourselves as angels, we consider ourselves human beings supporting other human beings.”
FIRE ANGEL
On November 8, Gary Greene, a paramedic who had just joined the NSW Rural Fire Service, returned home exhausted at 5am.
He had been fighting a fire near the tiny town of Bobin and knew he should grab a few hours of sleep before heading out again as the predicted westerly wind kicked in.
Before leaving at 11.30am, he showed partner Kim Macdonald how to use the fire pump to protect the house if need be.
“We had a fire plan if it got too bad, I’d go to the creek,” Kim, 53, said.
Around 2pm, the fire broke over the ridge and marched towards the village.
“We were down the road with five other in the Bobin crew defending a house that we actually saved, then we were notified it fire was impacting the school so we had to get back to the village,” Mr Greene said.
The school was right next door to Ms Macdonald’s house. By this time, she had decided she could not hold off the fire storm.
“The fire was that fierce and moving that quickly,” she said.
With Pepe and Neve, the rescue dogs she tucked under each arm, she waded into the creek with a wet blanket over her head and lay there listening to the roar of her home being engulfed, with embers flying everywhere.
Mr Greene, 55, and a friend, John Howard, 59, raced back to find the house alight and no sign of his partner. He had to find a way through the flames to get to Kim.
“At one point, because of the intensity of the fire, I was concerned if she even made it to the creek with the ferocity of the wind speed,” he said.
“We had to take a tanker around Dingo Creek to find her and rescue her and we could do that fortunately.”
Mr Greene is one of 2700 rural fireys volunteering in this unprecedented bushfire season.
Bobin Captain Alan Moore, 77, has been a firey for 50 years and welcomes every new volunteer.
“His partner’s house burnt while he was fighting other fire. You are a volunteer, you do it and sometimes you give up your own place to protect others,” he said.
“They are absolutely incredible and I’m concerned about their welfare as it has been going on for so long.”
Apart from his day job as a paramedic, Mr Greene is also the commander of the State Emergency Service at Wingham.
“He’s just an all-round good guy,” Ms Macdonald said.
“We need more volunteers,” Mr Greene said. “It is a very important job. I hope more join because it is the spirit of community in times of disaster.”
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ANGEL
Nicole Harvey is a mother of five and grandmother of two who gave up a career in microbiology 10 years ago to help women and children escape domestic violence.
As part of the domestic violence response team of Coast Shelter on the Central Coast, she helps women and children access safe housing in one of three women’s refuges.
“I love the work that we get done with Coast Shelter,” she said.
“We are a gritty, roll-up-your-sleeves and get-in-there support and accommodation provider.
“We are on call on Christmas Day and I will go out to the refuge and check in to see everyone is OK and, if mum is OK, be part of the present opening. Just making sure it is a happy time. We try to create a symbolic happy fresh start for Christmas and New Year.”
Mrs Harvey, 50, said the festive season can be a fearful time for domestic violence victims.
“It increases at this time, we have become extremely busy in the last week,” she said.
“We are not only seeing an increase in referrals, we are seeing an increase in the severity of the violence.
“We have had to move women out of the Central Coast because it is unsafe to stay here.
“Contributing factors can be alcohol, unemployment, mental health, financial strain and at Christmas time those contributing factors increase, they exacerbate and it can also be around access to children.
“Planning on leaving can happen at this time as well — the want and wish for a happy Christmas instead of a nightmare one.”
Giving up a few hours on Christmas Day is a pleasure when she sees children safe and well.
“Seeing mum with children with the absolute freedom to open what they want, eat what they want, to happily make a mess with Christmas paper, to laugh, not looking over their shoulder in case dad will get angry.
“The change is palpable, you see mum laughing and hugging and the freedom to enjoy Christmas.”
DROUGHT ANGEL
Northern beaches swim teacher Lisa Hewitt was deeply troubled by the drought so, when a friend of a friend was doing a food drive, she had the idea to find a town that needed some help.
Within a few days the former police officer had amassed 2.5 tonnes of non-perishable food. She did some inquires and settled on helping Cumnock, Yeoval and Trundle, all farming communities in the grip of the worst drought on record.
“The ex-copper came out in me and I rang the bowling club in Yeoval and got the name of a fifth generation farmer by the name of a Phil Hunter and fifth generation cattle farmer Crystal Haycock and had a chat and asked: ‘What do you need’?”
There are no half-measures with this angel.
“Well, if you are going to help a town or two, you have to do the whole gambit, so I asked for donations for ladies hampers, care packages that have pads, tampons, soaps, shampoo, conditioner, diffusers, razors, make-up, moisturising creams for face, hands, feet,” she said. “And men’s packs with socks, polarised safety glasses for dust storms, water canisters, shaving cream, razors, soap, a new shirt and a cap.
“Then we did a food and water hamper. All up there were 84 food hampers but we had present for all the kids and then I thought, they all have working dogs, so I got food for the working dogs and every family got a $150 prepaid Visa card as well.”
And all this was done by fundraising.
Kennard’s donated a truck to haul the goods, as did Manly Truck Hire and three vans and trailers joined the convoy. The owner of Bilgola Deli delivered a trailer “chockers full of fruit”.
On December 5 the convoy departed but stopped by Mullions Produce and Saddlery store in Orange to pick up some poddy calf and lamb formula and some vitamin blocks for the stock.
“We stopped in Cumnock and offloaded a heap of donations to be distributed then we went to the Haycocks’ farm in Yeoval and unpacked. We heard of 13 families that were too proud so we delivered another 13 hampers to another bloke, Phil Hunter, and he distributed them as they would not accept it from us but would from him,” she said.
She arranged for a barbecue at a cattle station in Yeoval where the people of the town gathered to welcome the convoy and receive their gifts.
For good measure, donations were also made to the Men’s Shed run by the local Baptist pastor.
“Why? Basically I want my children and my grandchildren to be eating beef and lamb from Australia and drinking Australian milk,” she said.
“These people are on the poverty line and just hanging in there. And it made me feel awesome.
“We dropped some fruit off at the Yeoval school and one little girl got in trouble from the teacher for smelling the peaches.
“She said: ‘I don’t know what they are but they smell beautiful’ and it was wonderful.”
It was so successful, she has planned another run for June.
Originally published as Meet 12 everyday heroes making the lives of others better
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