Come from Away

 Come from Away – Link to podcast

When a disaster hits, like the 9/11 terrorist attacks or even a flood – people are usually generous and compassionate in response.  Reality is, there is always a crisis for someone and we have opportunities, every day to be amazing humans.  

Back in 2011 The Brisbane River peaked on 13 January and over 20,000 houses in Brisbane were inundated. The floods damaged the Brisbane Riverwalk, a floating walkway over the Brisbane River and a 300-metre section broke free and formed a "floating missile" that threatened significant Bridge infrastructure along the river. This floating missile was safely guided under bridges by a brave bloke in a tugboat.  His courage saved lives and secured millions of dollars’ worth of critical infrastructure.    Brisbane's major football venue, Suncorp stadium, filled with around 2 meters of water reaching right up to the fourth row of seats in the stands.

Hundreds of people were displaced from their homes and the salvos were involved in feeding programs at a number of emergency evacuation centers.  I was asked to manage an evacuation site at ANZ stadium and we were feeding the 3-400 people three meals a day who were sleeping there for around two weeks.  

It was a hectic time.  The kitchen on this site was being renovated and so tradesmen were called in to finish the job as quickly as possible.  Chefs and equipment was needed and of course heaps of food, drinks, refrigeration and of course tea and coffee.  Thousand other issues like rostering volunteers and making sure hygiene and food safety issues were in place all needed attention.

Support came from everywhere.  An experienced qualified Chef found out about it and literally dropped everything in his catering business and worked with us full time for free for the whole fortnight.  Companies arrived with truckloads of food and families, grandmas and church groups cooked meals, cakes and treats every day.  The people were super grateful for these personalized expressions of care and although the trauma of losing a home is the main memory people at this shelter will remember, they will also remember the beautiful expressions of love and care from complete strangers.  

So much happened at this time that was heartwarming and generous.   Literally thousands of volunteers called the mud army hit the flood affected streets of Brisbane and helped clean up the mess.  

I have been involved in Salvo front line work for many years and more often than not we run feeding programs where hungry people from the street are offered a hot meal and encounter not only good food, but the smiles and generosity of the volunteers and staff who cook and serve the meals.  These events have a similar feel to the time I had at the evacuation center during the floods.  The daily crisis for homeless people, things like mental illness, addiction, sleeping rough and the trauma and violence of life on the streets, is just as real and challenging as a middle class family losing a home in a flood.  

I recently saw the musical Come from Away and it was fabulous.  Go and see it if you can.  It will restore your faith in humanity.  

It’s the story of 38 planes grounded during the 9/11 crisis that were diverted to an airport in the small Canadian town of Gander in Newfoundland.  This small community of 7 thousand people doubled in size overnight.   The musical tells the story of how the town rallied, dropped all their petty differences and fed, housed and loved these traumatized passengers, no matter who they were, from all over the world for 5 days until the US airspace restrictions were lifted and they could all go home.   

Schools and sports stadiums were converted into shelters and thousands of meals were cooked.   Often people were invited back to local resident’s homes to stay and to share meals.  One line in the show is with a droll sort of a girl at a check out in supermarket saying “thank you for shopping at Walmart and would you like to come back to my place for dinner tonight”?  

The emotion and depth of love and camaraderie between these people is rich.  At the ten year anniversary of the event they all got together and some journalists recorded their stories and eventually the musical was written.  It is now one of the most popular theatre productions in the world, playing to sellout crowds across the globe who stand, cry and applaud at the end of every performance.  

This play captures something of the best in humanity and in many ways explains why I still love being a salvo.  Every day my job is to find ways to help people who are like the passengers stranded at Gander to find comfort, hope and a way to get back home.  

The Salvos and organisations like us are always looking for volunteers and to partner with people who are serious about making a difference, but more than this the world needs people who are generous and accepting especially of people who are hurting and alone.  

In the musical there is a knock knock joke at the end that sums this all up for me. It goes like this, Knock knock ………. come on in, the door’s open. 

Bless ya