Watermark for Baked Relief

“This is the mark that marks the point where the floodwaters peaked. It marks the day when ordinary people showed their iron will, giving to others when their own lives were gutted. It marks the spirit in this town and every town on the hard road to recovery. This is a day to mark in your memory. When people came together had a drink, a laugh and kept going.”

In the recent January Brisbane Floods, 14,972 homes and businesses were completely swamped and 18,025 partially flooded. Bundaberg Rum is organizing a state-wide flood relief event called Watermark that will be held simultaneously in pubs across the state on the 16th April to support flood victims and to help local flood affected businesses get back on their feet.

The iconic Fox Hotel in South Brisbane bore the brunt of the rising Brisbane River, the receding floodwaters revealing that their cellars and Main Bar had been inundated and left waterlogged and covered in sticky brown sludge.

The Fox has repaired and refurbished and is now wanting to host the biggest flood relief party Brisbane has seen to help their fellow flood-affected Queenslanders in the Lockyer Valley.

Sponsored by Bundaberg Rum and The Fox Hotel, WATERMARK is a tribute to all the victims of the floods and the heroic resilience of Queenslanders. Funds raised from this event will go directly to families in Helidon and Murphy's Creek in the Lockyer Valley. These families have been hit hard by damage to homes, property and infrastructure. As most families are only receiving 20% of the insured value of their homes, they need to rebuild with very limited funds. They are not benefiting from any of the Grantham Flood Support Fund-raising.

Baked Relief have provided brand new kitchen start-up kits, linen, cookbooks and vouchers for groceries so far, but more is needed. The Fox Hotel has teamed up with Baked Relief and now share the philosophy of providing practical, on the ground support to families by providing credit at local stores for the purchase of goods. The benefit of this is three fold. Firstly it empowers the families to make their own choices about products to suit their needs, secondly Baked Relief is financially supporting the local economy and thirdly we are supporting the local store owners, many of which have also been affected by flooding.

Money can’t buy prizes, will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The Grand Auction will be the afternoon highlight event, showcasing the hottest and most coveted items available in Brisbane right now.

Make sure you are at the Fox Hotel on Saturday the 16th of April and support those who have lost so much. Go to the facebook page for more information HERE

Post script: Thank you so much to everyone supporting Baked Relief. My life has been changed forever with this project. I am stressed, and oh so busy and the most stressed I have ever been in my life. But my children are happy, the house is (kinda) organised and I am continuing at work 40 hours a week. Hey, the bills keep coming. So blogging hasn't been a top priority at the moment. Normal transmission will resume in say..... 2012 ;)