Angels with Dirty Faces: Volunteers Down Under

In the aftermath of the catastrophic floods near Brisbane (see these incredible photographs taken from the air) comes an army of volunteers to clean up.  (It rather reminds me of the angeli del fango, the "angels of mud" who volunteered to clean up Florence after its 1966 flood disaster.)  Link via Ninme, and kudos to those Aussies:

It was the day an army of big-hearted volunteers shouldering brooms, mops and shovels began digging and sweeping Brisbane out of the mud. 

In a remarkable display of community spirit, more than 20,000 signed on for duty, ready to bend their backs to help fellow residents reclaim their homes and waterlogged possessions from the stinking sludge left behind by the worst floods in a generation. 

Politicians, pensioners, university students, garbos, chippies, teenagers, mums and dads from all walks of life joined forces in the street-by-street clean-up. They brought their own tools and an inexhaustible supply of goodwill. 

Some volunteers even came from interstate to help, hopping on the first available planes after watching the drama unfold during the past week ... Thousands more "unofficial" volunteers have simply materialised to help friends and strangers as Brisbane and Ipswich residents try to get back on their feet.