Throughout our response, our teams have been encouraged by the enthusiasm of local volunteers—many of them working with Samaritan’s Purse for the first time. Throughout the town of Ingham, volunteers have endured soaring heat and humidity to provide care and assistance to homeowners—many of them elderly, disabled or vulnerable.

Church friends Jonelle and Sophie used their days off to make the 110-kilometre journey from Townsville to help clean mouldy walls and ceilings and remove flood-damaged items to the kerb.

“Volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse has allowed me to put my faith into action, to be Christ’s hands and feet for people. It’s nice that we do it as a community and as a Christian community with other brothers and sisters, not necessarily in the same denomination, but with the same purpose and the mind of Christ to help others”

As this is written, our volunteers, dubbed by locals as “angels in work boots” have given over 4,000 hours to provide practical assistance for over 100 households in north Queensland. We have witnessed residents open their hearts towards Christ’s love as our teams pray and work with them towards their recovery. We give all glory to God for the opportunities to partner with churches and the community to show them that they have not been forgotten.