1,000 toys appeal deadline rapidly approaches

As you may know we are holding an appeal to get 1,000 new toys for the Fairfield Floods Family Fun Fair on Saturday 16th April.

The event is being run by the Moorooka Lions, and it looks set to be a great fun-filled day with rides, entertainment and food galore (yummo!)

We had been pledged many toys, however many of them were simply not in a condition that we would give away, let alone have Santa deliver.  We have asked for these toys to be NEW and in their original boxes or with original swing tags attached.

Just thought I'd share a few pics of some of the items we have received - this is just a small handful on one of the days where I actually had my phone/camera handy to take pics.

This is one of my favourites - I mean, what kid wouldn't be thrilled to open up their present to find milk bottle lids threaded onto string?!

This poor fellow looked like he'd been in the floods himself :(

And this guy definitely wasn't anywhere near new condition.


So, I'm urging you all, if your children have toys that they have never even taken out of the boxes (mine did!) or you have $10 spare in this weeks pay, please consider buying a toy so we can make these children (who have been through so much) smile!

Pick us! Pick us!

We'd be ever so grateful if you would vote for us in the Suncorp Back to Business Grants.

It gives us the opportunity to win a $5,000 grant to further assist our community. 
As you know, we'll be in it long after the floods - and will continue to help those who need it ;)
Our committment and vision is to improve the quality of lives of our less fortunate community members - flooded or not!


You can vote for us at this page https://suncorpbacktobusiness.com.au/nominations/sandlewood-projects?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d918764601538c5%2C0

Trent - the 7yr old legend

Picture this - your son is turning 7.  He says he wants to have a birthday party but instead of the people bringing presents for him, he says he wants his friends to bring presents for the kids who lost their things in the floods.

Sounds like a story... but it's not!

Young Trent had his 7th birthday party and that's exactly what he did.  He asked his friends to bring along a gift suitable for a child who had lost their toys in the floods - and his mum brought him all the way to our shop to donate them so they could go directly to flood affected kids.

Here's Trent with his load of goodies for the kids!

Flood CleanUp

I just thought I would share these Post-flood clean up tips, courtesy of Shannon Lush which I think will probably come in handy for a few of our local residents.

With water comes mold, one of the most stubborn offenders to clean up. According to the cleaning genius of Shannon Lush, there are two main weapons; salt and oil of cloves.




To remove mold from soft furnishings, canvas and outside areas (where the salt won't end up in the garden), mix one kilogram of ordinary house salt into one bucket of water. Wash the affected surface, wait until the salt crust forms and brush off with a broom.



But Shannon says the best killer of mould is oil of cloves, available from the chemist or supermarket.



To use oil of cloves as a mold remover:



Add half a teaspoon of oil of cloves to 1 litre of water - no more than that.





Put it into a spray bottle, spray the surface and leave for 20 minutes.

Wipe the surface clean, then re-spray and leave it.

It will take between 24 to 48 hours for the mould spores to die and drop off.

Temporary Shop Closure 12.1.11

As most people would be aware, Queensland is facing it's worst Natural Disaster in many, many years. 

75% of our state has been considered a Natural Disaster Zone and many areas local to the shop are already affected by the floods.

Beaudesert Road near the Motorama 4x4 by More is under water and has been closed.  Muriel Avenue (off which you turn in to get to the shop) is also closed due to flooding. 

Water levels are expected to be greater than in 1974 floods, which, many locals will be aware the water levels did come awfully close to where the shop is (across the road where the safety shop and servo is was underwater).

This is the prediction of the area that will be affected by flooding (in yellow) if you look you'll see that our street is on the prediction map. 

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201101/r700540_5364790.pdf

As a result we are not taking risks, and have closed the shop until the imminent risk of flood waters has passed.

Obviously this is a very trying time - many of our clients in the Yeronga, Rocklea, Fairfield, Sherwood, Tennyson areas will already be affected by flood.  This is the time when our community needs to band together and work as one to help those who need it, so the closing of the shop is not one that we take lightly.