SNAG IN THE THANKS PLAN

EVERY one of the 15,000 volunteers who did all they could to make the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games run like clockwork has a story to tell.

Most tell of the joy of meeting and helping others. Some, like a 79-year-old volunteer who worked 12 shifts, were arriving at 6am, knowing there would be little relief apart from a brief window in the middle of the day for a breather.

But among the stories we heard across the duration of the Games were some that would break your heart.

A bubbly woman in her fifties revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer last year but was determined to see the Games through. “You can give in and go into a corner and say woe is me, or you can pick yourself up, get out there, and do the best you can,’’ she said, adding that athletes had to do it every day and she did the same in her own way. That’s inspiration.

A grieving daughter told how she volunteered with her mum, but had to do it by herself after her mother died in February. The first week at the Games was particularly tough for her, but she had a chance meeting with a senior sports official who said nothing happened by accident and they would gain from their conversation.

Most of these extraordinary volunteers will tell you they found their Games experience humbling. All these people deserve thanks and a feed – but Games officials’ idea of that was to bill the volunteers for the privilege, even though they had gone to extraordinary lengths to make the show work. Without them, there was no Games.

So after throwing millions of dollars at the closing ceremony, which insulted athletes and flag bearers by leaving them out of the coverage, organisers stumbled again by setting up a thankyou picnic for the volunteers but expected them to pay for their own food and drink. Are they fair dinkum?

After the hundreds of millions spent on the Games, was it going to hurt to buy snags and softdrinks? Thankfully Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has stepped in.