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For the love of OZ

Whistler businesses, employees step up to help flood victims
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The state of Queensland, Australia has been making international news headlines for weeks, as the area has experienced the worst flooding the region it has seen since 1974.

So far, the death toll from the floods has reached 20, with more than ten people still missing, and according to a story posted on The Australian Tuesday afternoon, "analysts are expecting it will take more than a year to rebuild the state, at a cost of more than $20bn (AUS)."

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, $103,325,414 (AUS) had been donated to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal.

Here in Whistler, as legions of Australians on working holidays prepare to celebrate their national holiday, some are uniting to help those at home.

Jono Young, manager of the Crystal Lounge, has lived in Whistler for almost 12 years now, but is originally from Brisbane, the third largest city in Australia, and one of the areas hardest-hit by the floods.

"I was chatting with a friend who lives up in the Grantham area and literally (the floods) came in a matter of half an hour, and its still a bit of a question as to why no one saw it coming, but (my) friend went and got his parents from down the street, starting driving away, the water was coming that quick they could see it, and they actually climbed a tree with lifejackets and were in the tree for two hours."

Fortunately, Young's family escaped the floodwaters unscathed.

"My family, they didn't take water in their house, but they couldn't get to any shops or anything like that for three or four days. Once the creeks flooded, there was no where to go!"

In comparison to others in the area, they were very lucky.

"Some people's whole houses are getting gutted right down to the skeletons," Young pointed out.

"I was talking to my dad yesterday and he was doing some cleanup at a few friend's places and they're pretty much just in there with pressure washers, and then once they get all the mud out, they're just ripping all the drywall out and leaving the framework and electrical and letting it dry out, and then pretty much rebuilding the homes."

Now, Young is trying to help out, from almost 12,000 kilometres away, by hosting a Queensland Australia Floods Relief Fundraiser at the Crystal on Thursday, Feb. 10, starting at 8:30 p.m.

"We're a long way away and wish we could be there helping with the cleanup and stuff, but not being able to do that, we thought that the next best thing would be to do a fundraiser/raffle, collecting donations, prizes, gift certificates, all that stuff from around town," he said. "That night, we'll be doing entry by donation and raffle tickets, and be giving out prizes throughout the night."

All funds raised will be donated to the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal, and anyone interested in making a donation of cash or prizes for the raffle should contact the Spaghetti Factory or Young, at the Crystal.

"I've even got a few friends sending little Aussie care packages to raffle off as well from back home, things that you can't get here, like different candies and chips and all this kind of stuff that you can't get here!" said Young.

They're also hoping to include a slideshow and a jam session with musicians from around town.

"Jon Shrier has mentioned he'd love to come, and Matt King from Big Mountain Rhythm has said, 'Anything that I can do...' so I think that's the route that I'm going to head down, is turn it into a jam," he said.

Young's hoping the event attracts Australians and non-Australians alike; all who want to show some love to the people who have been affected by the floods.

Up on Blackcomb, Rendezvous staff has donated a week's worth of tips to the flood victims. A metal bucket was placed at every till with a sign explaining the charity drive. Jamie Loughnam, the senior lead hand at Rendezvous came up with the idea. By the end of the fundraiser drive on Wednesday morning, they had collected $1,618.50 , which is all the more impressive when one considers that most people have donated what little change they receive from their purchases - a dime here, a quarter there.

"A lot of people just donate their small change but the Australians are the ones who put the extra little bit of money in there, naturally, because they're the ones who are most affected by it," Loughnam said.

He said he actually initiated a similar charity drive last year, when staff raised about the same to help victims of the Haitian earthquake.

"I thought, well, this is pretty big for Australia and there's a lot of Australians from Whistler Blackcomb," he said. "I thought a lot of people would get behind it and, yeah, I just helped them out."

The floods in Queensland haven't personally affected Loughnam, who is from Melbourne. He has a couple of friends who have been directly affected though and he thought this would be a good way to help out, even if it's with a modest sum.

As a company, Whistler Blackcomb is also stepping up to help out in the aftermath of the flooding. Three of their restaurants - Merlin's, Dusty's and the GLC - will be hosting fundraising events on Australia Day (Wednesday, Jan. 26) to raise money for recovery efforts.

While the Aussie Day festivities at each of the three establishments may start earlier in the day, the fundraising efforts begin at 5 p.m.; they'll be holding raffles and auctions with prizes generously donated from local businesses, and there will also be live music from local performers. Admission will be a $5 minimum donation, with all proceeds from the door, raffles and auctions going towards the cause.

-with files from Stephen Smysnuik-