NEW YORK - Nearly 10,000 miles separate Paul Allam and Jessica Grynberg from their hometown of Sydney, Australia. But even so, their hearts are there with those impacted by the deadly bushfires.
"It's heartbreaking, really, just the scale of it, you know? It's so big and it's so endless," Grynberg said.
This husband and wife duo are the owners of Bourke Street Bakery. The popular bakery has 13 stores in Australia, this is their first outpost outside of the country.
Paul and Jessica say it has beenhard for them to sit by as they watch flames engulf so much of their homeland.
Since the fires started in September, officials estimate millions of acres have been destroyed and half a billion animals have been killed.
"It's despair and genuine pain. It's rare for me as an Australian living abroad that I have that reaction looking back to my homeland, seeing it, basically, on fire," Allam said.
Paul and Jessica decided they had to do something. Earlier this month, they organized a fundraiser. Two-hundred people packed their Flatiron bakery in support - raising more than $16,000. All proceeds will benefit Australian wildlife rescues and firefighting squads working tirelessly to help those in need.
"From a tragedy like this, these are the nights where people can show their depths of generosity and human compassion and I think for someone who has lost their home, when they can see a room full of people who support them, it's a really heartening thing," Allam said.
Olivia Parsonson is one of those people. An Australian native herself, her family home – located just outside of Sydney - has burned to the ground.
"You just feel for your country, it's heartbreaking. You want to be able to do something but you're so far away and it kind of makes you homesick and you just want to be with your people," Parsonson said.
For Paul and Jessica, this fundraiser was just one small way to bring different corners of the world together for the same cause.
"That's the positive side, when something terrible is happening, people can band together and do something and that's what you can feel - we were all feeling so helpless for the other end of the Earth and yet there was this group of people who really care and what to do something, instead of just watch," Grynberg said.
So, for doing their part to helpAustralia’s fight and recovery, Paul Allam and Jessica Grynberg are our New Yorkers of the Week.
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January 20, 2020 at 06:51PM
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