People have mixed feelings about receiving help

After the 2011 floods, residents receiving voluntary help reported mixed feelings. Some felt gratitude, guilt, or that they’re pride was at stake. Others felt embarrassed by an inability to pay back kindness, a need to be seen as coping, that they weren’t deserving of assistance, in debt to others, or did not want to be seen as recipients of charity.

Nicole George (2013) “It was a town of friendship and mud: ‘Flood talk’, community, and resilience” Australian Journal of Communication

Image: Grey Street, South Brisbane, 1890. Credit: Lost Brisbane.