“This does not define my or my family’s lives. When you know that others have lost far more than their possessions in fires before, it puts things into perspective. We will move on from this, and we will rebuild.”
panicking, but of course I lost our friends and ended up completely and utterly lost.” With embers raining down on them and smoke cloaking the car, Rachel frantically searched for an escape out of the darkness. Swearing that it was divine intervention, she miraculously made it back to the highway and eventually to safety in the nick of time. Flash forward four weeks and surrounded by her friends and support team Senior Director 5 Yvette Brewin, Senior Director 2 Carole Sellar and Director 6 Hayley Cogswell, Rachel shared her most heart breaking conversation between herself and her husband. After fighting the fires himself, David Ireland had sent a voice mail to his wife confirming the worst; their home and their next door neighbour’s home (who just so happened to be his step-mother’s) had both been completely destroyed in the fire. Homeless, with literally just the shirt on her back, Rachel bravely returned to her once beautiful family home, only to find it absolutely decimated, all of her most precious possessions destroyed “I didn’t care about the materialistic things I had lost, but the loss of my sentimental jewellery and hand and foot moulds of my children as newborns was just devastating.” With her emotions high, she noticed that her front fence and letterbox seemed to be relatively untouched by the flames and proceeded to check for mail “It was quite ironic really, even though everything was completely destroyed and I was falling apart, one thing remained untouched – my Melaleuca cheque sat unharmed in my letterbox! I must have looked like a complete maniac, but I just burst out laughing!” says Rachel. Not a dry eye in the house, her team tentatively asked how she was coping with such a traumatic experience. Her response was unexpected “This does not define my or my family’s lives. When you know that others have lost far more than their possessions in fires before, it puts things into perspective. We will move on from this, and we will rebuild our house – bigger and better than before.” The news of such a devastating loss reached the Melaleuca staff in Box Hill, Victoria just days later, spreading a sombre mood throughout the office “My first thought was of the fact that while we were all gearing up for a great Christmas, the Irelands were in the midst of overcoming one of the most traumatic events that anyone can
ever experience. I wanted to find a way that we could help them, if only just for a small moment” said Customer Service Team Leader Judie Manno. This sentiment was shared by the rest of the staff, prompting a call for donations from each member. On 21 December Director of Sales Melanie Frazer was able to present the Irelands with Melaleuca products and a cheque of $1,000, donated directly from pockets of the Melaleuca staff in the hope of bringing a small slice of joy to the Ireland’s Christmas.
“The outpouring of support has just been incredible – I cannot thank everyone enough for their generosity!” responded a very tearful Rachel, who despite losing her home, still managed to enrol two Melaleuca Preferred Customers during the month of December.
Above right: Rachel with Melanie Frazer, Director of Sales. Below: Yvette Brewin, Senior Direct 5, Hayley Cogswell, Director 6 and Carole Sellar, Senior Diretor 2.
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MARCH/APRIL 2016 | MELALEUCA.COM
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