TARNYA Davis, a clinical and forensic psychologist as well as a Newcastle Herald columnist, has put her skills to work this week supporting those closest to the Hunter bus crash that has left the entire nation reeling.
Nowhere has the aftermath been felt more keenly than Singleton, where more than half a dozen residents never walked away from the crash that has landed a man before court, 10 dead and many more recovering in hospital.
Beyond that are the families and friends whose lives are likely to be separated into before and after last Sunday night.
"This is not a broken community, but a community who, while reeling in trauma and suffering, are also stepping up to be there for each other," Ms Davis wrote in an opinion piece published by this masthead on Wednesday, detailing how there can be silver linings to the kind of community grief that has swamped so many as well as the obvious pain and struggle.
That same day, Singleton and the wider Hunter and Australian communities were proving the truth of her assessment with a unified fundraiser that organisers are hopeful can draw in $1 million for those in the eye of a hurricane no-one saw coming.
NSW Premier Chris Minns' $100,000 donation on Tuesday is a worthy contribution but is unlikely to get the job done alone.
It will take a village, and likely one far beyond the borders of Singleton and the other places dealing with heartbreak in place of their loved ones.
One benefit of the national spotlight thrust upon the region could be a wider pool of those willing to offer support to all who need it, including orphaned children whose parents were aboard the bus.
Research has indicated a rallying point can help galvanise communities bouncing back from disaster, letting them unite and take on the enormous problems before them.
Fundraising to support those dealing with the repercussions of the crash may offer a similar sense of purpose to a town that is understandably struggling to come to terms with what has happened.
At the very least, it might allow those who are facing a new world of questions to answer at least the most immediate fiscal worries before them.
Those driving the fundraising efforts deserve praise for putting aside their own grief to put others first in a situation that has left so many numb.
That level of selflessness is, at the very least, a beacon of hope in dark days. May many be generous, and the targets ever higher.
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