Social media has been flooded with images showing the drought, fires, hailstorms and rain that have come since the year began, but we have also seen the best and worst contrasted in people.

Stories of sacrifice and courage have emerged, time and again, as we read about the devastating bushfires, but, sadly, stories of people trying to take advantage of others when they are at their lowest have also been shared.

We have heard about looting, thefts and of scammers masquerading as volunteers and knocking on doors in a bid to trick residents into handing over cash for bogus appeals.

The Country Women's Association was forced to issue a statement, reminding people that it doesn't doorknock after scammer tried to use the organisation's good name in a con.

This week, NSW police have launched a strike force to investigate reports of a fraud currently targeting farmers from drought-stricken communities across NSW.

According to police, someone is advertising hay for sale on social media, taking deposits and then vanishing.

When the whole of NSW is, to varying degrees, affected by drought and fodder is both increasingly scarce and rising in price, this kind of scam feels particularly callous.

As Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said, anyone who takes advantage of drought-affected farmers should face the full force of the law.

"At a time when we're seeing unprecedented levels of drought affecting every corner of NSW, it's unthinkable that anyone would seek to exploit those who most need our support," Mr Elliott said.

"This is a pathetic act and the government will continue to back our police in their efforts to keep these online criminals away from communities struggling during these hard times."

Contrast this scam with an announcement that the nation's Catholic churches, including those in Wagga, will be taking special collections over the Australia Day long weekend to help the St Vincent de Paul bushfire appeal.

People have been extraordinarily generous with donations of food and other groceries, clothes and household bits and bobs, but sometimes this isn't enough.

Sometimes, the best way to lend a hand is by donating cash, and Vinnies is passing on every cent of the donations it receives to people in fire-affected communities.

In a more practical vein, Wagga motorists watched on Wednesday as a convoy of 11 b-doubles, laden with hay and destined for fire-affected farmers, rumbled through the city.

Consisting of farmers and truck drivers, the Harvey Hay Run has made its way from Western Australia and is headed to Cooma, via Canberra.

Bringing that hay all the way from Western Australia is a big ask, yet it has been done without complaint.

It is heartening to see how many people are willing to help out others.

But even as all these wonderful individuals and charities are offering to lend a hand to get fire-affected communities back on their feet, people's resilience is showing.

Already it has been decided, for example, that Tumbafest will go ahead, and the Tumbarumba Rodeo, having been cancelled because of bushfires on New Year's Day, will become part of the 2020 event.

Looking just a little further ahead, organisers of Batlow's Ciderfest have decided the event will go ahead as planned in May.

The Snowys are beautiful. We all know that, and it is heartening to see so many businesses are already opening their doors again to the visitors that are so important to the region.

The softwood industry, too, is already assessing and moving forward. Mills are resuming production and efforts to salvage as much of the burned timber as possible have begun.

During World War II, the British used to talk about the "Blitz spirit", a stoicism and determination that people can demonstrate in the face of a difficult situation.

With a similar spirit demonstrated in our Snowy Valleys in recent weeks, it's not hard to imagine that the actions of a few scammers and assorted scumbags will do little to dissuade people from the task of rebuilding.