The generosity of strangers, or why we love Hastings

[rumpelsnorcack]

A few days ago the principal of our school sent out an email and a text message asking us to come down to school grounds today because Hastings Intermediate had been kind enough to put together a container of care packages for our school.  They had chosen to help out one of the worst affected schools, and when they asked were directed to our school.  It was a little overwhelming to be honest - they estimate they put together about $50,000 worth of stuff to send to us.  We are all extremely grateful.  Apart from the general loveliness of Hastings Intermediate in doing this for us, it was also a wonderful opportunity to see everyone and make sure that they are all okay- not just from hearsay but actually be able to see them and hug them.  Someone had obviously alerted the media because we had someone from the Press there as well as what looked like a TV camera.  It'll be interesting to see what turns up about it and where.

Here are some pictures.








While we were there I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the roads around our school.  It still boggles my mind that an area I know so well and that I'm used to as having pretty streets with decent roads can look like this after a few seconds of shaking.