Member agents, partners, and sponsors of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) are proud to have delivered more than $70,000 worth of support in response to the February flood event.

REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said soon after the water receded, on the weekend of 5-6 March 2022, REIQ staff and member agents were out volunteering on the ground.

“Reflecting back on that weekend, I am incredibly proud and humbled about the way the REIQ team, members and sponsors mobilised so quickly, to offer boots on-the-ground support to people undertaking the difficult and emotional task of cleaning up their flood-impacted homes,” Ms Mercorella said.

“REIQ-sponsored food and drink vans were dispersed across some of the hardest-hit flood impacted suburbs, providing $12,000 worth of sustenance donated by the REIQ to more than 2,000 people.

“Our kind-hearted volunteers were the ones offering and hand-delivering the food and drink, as well as informative flood support fact sheets, from street to street and door to door in Brisbane suburbs such as Auchenflower, Chelmer, Goodna, Herston, Oxley, Rocklea, West End, Windsor, and Yeronga.

“While on the face of it, it was simply a coffee, burger, hotdog, or pizza slice, the feedback received was that it also went a long way in lifting their spirits and energy reserves for the hard job ahead.”

Ms Mercorella said the REIQ also spearheaded a flood support auction on behalf of inCommunity and Beddown, which was supported with great prizes and money from sponsors Direct Connect, realestate.com.au, Aon, CoreLogic, PEXA and Smoke Alarm Solutions. 

“In April, the Flood Support Auction raised more than $20,000, while a generous donation from sponsor Direct Connect added an additional $10,000 to the flood-raiser, for a total of $30,000 for inCommunity and Beddown,” she said.

“Besides the money raised, the truly heart-warming thing was to see the way everyone in the wider Queensland real estate community came together to contribute their resources, time and money towards this industry effort for natural disaster recovery.”

InCommunity and Beddown reported that the funding was helping to address heightened demand in the Goodna, Ipswich, and Laidley areas where a number of people who lost everything in the flood had applied for temporary accommodation assistance.

Ms Mercorella said an additional $28,000 was raised by REIQ staff, member agents, sponsors and friends of the Queensland real estate community in the form of donations, to support the agents, agencies and communities that were heavily impacted by the flood disaster.

“From the outset, this fundraising page was set up provide a platform for agents to support one another and the community,” she said.

“To this end, we’ve facilitated the distribution of the funds between Queensland agents in need and REIQ’s partner Q Shelter.

“Queensland agents who were affected by the floods and required assistance were able to apply for a $1,000 grant from the $13,000 raised to assist in the expenses incurred with their businesses’ flood recovery.

“As a result, grants have now been distributed to 13 impacted agents in Ashgrove, Goonda, Graceville, Gympie, Ipswich, Mount Ommaney, Redcliffe, Strathpine, West End, Windsor, and Yeronga.

“In addition, $15,000 was provided to Q Shelter in the form of a donation, to provide direct rental assistance support for domestic and family violence victims who have been affected by the floods.”