It’s no secret we live in trying times. Unemployment rates are astronomical. The housing market has slumped. Donald Trump is officially President of the United States of America. Things are pretty shithouse everywhere, really.
But, here’s two good news stories for your day. And the best part is, they originated from the internet. Perhaps the scariest of all scary places.
First, meet Ray. He’s a widowed pensioner from South Australia. Ray posted an ad on Gumtree (like Craigslist, for our American friends) seeking a fishing buddy, as his previous one had passed away:
“I am a Land Based Fisherman I have all the gear for all types of Fish that is required for Land Based Fishing WHAT I WANT IS A FISHING MATE IN A SIMILAR POSITION TO MYSELF WHO ALSO WANTS SOMEONE TO GO FISHING WITH I AM WILLING TO SHARE ALL COSTS EG> PETROL BAIT AND SHOULD YOU HAPPEN TO OWN A BOAT WILLING TO PAY ALL RAMP FEES BUT HAPPY IF YOU ARE ALSO A LAND BASED FISHERMAN…”
Ray’s post virtually broke the internet, clocking up over 58,000 views and more shares than one could poke a stick at. The hashtags #IllFishWithRay and #FindRayAFishingMate have also been trending on social media.
The good news: Ray has found a potential fishing buddy, a local, and plans to meet up with him this week.
The even better news: there are now multiple Go Fund Me pages in Ray’s name, trying to get him out on a local fishing charter and to fly him to Sydney to go fishing there.
Another Go Fund Me campaign is also trending, for an altogether different reason.
Several months ago, Townsville businessman Michael Slogget posted about a man he’d seen by the side of the road, seeking work in exchange for food, fuel or shelter. The man, Brian, was living in his car with his pet dogs.
After a local church took back a broken caravan they were going to give Brian last week, Slogget took to social media, posting the following video:
As a result of the post, a Go Fund Me page was created with the goal of raising enough money to buy Brian a caravan of his own. Within a day, the page was trending, with over half the $7,500 goal raised. Slogget had also sourced someone willing to sell a van, and someone with a parcel of land they were willing to let Brian live on.
“He has not had a good life,” Slogget said.
“I asked him what he wants and he said, ‘I just want to die somewhere, and know that where I die, it was mine…’.”
Heartbreaking. 😥
Now, neither of these posts are typical of what girlatarockshow.com covers and we know we may well lose some followers because of it. BUT! We love good news stories, we love to see humans helping each other, and we believe it’s important to spread news like this – particularly when things seem otherwise like they’re turning to shit.
If you would like to help out Brian or Ray, please follow the links in the story and please share this on your social networks to get some good news out there!
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