In response to the devastaing floods in Queensland, local man Jason Adamek decided he would do something tangible to help.

He organised a group of 19 willing volunteers and on February 4 they travelled up in a convoy to help some of the people in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane.

‘On Friday we arrived in the town of Laidley,’ he told The Echo. ‘Due to the organisation of Anita, a member of the Laidley community, we were able to set up a Byron Bay Embassy in the grounds of the local scout hall.

The hall itself was set up with furniture, couches and toys which had been donated by Byron Shire residents and brought there with the team.

‘A child minding centre was set up in the hall and local parents  were invited to drop their children in so they could be looked after by team volunteers whilst the parents could go about their clearing up.’

On the same day as they arrived, Mr Adamek says the team concentrated on the town.

The next day, Mr Adamek said the team spent the day in the town of Grantham, where they had been ‘totally overwhelmed by truckloads of donations from all over Australia.’

‘Two huge warehouses were full of goods of all description and trucks were continuing to arrive with no space to put anything under cover,’ says Mr Adamek.

‘After discussions with the local community as to what would help them the most, the team split into two to re-organise the warehouses as much as was possible in the time they had.’

On Saturday night the Byron Bay embassy held a BBQ at the scout hall, and invited the local community to come along.

‘Thanks to the generosity of Trevor Mead Butchers of Byron Bay, Mac’s Takeaway,  Byron Bay IGA Supermarket and the Byron Shire team, the evening was enjoyed by all.’

There were lots of lucky door prizes all donated by Byron Shire businesses and residents. The local community were thrilled by the prizes and said that, combined with the food and music, it all helped to make the evening a wonderful time to just relax and enjoy life for a few hours.

On Sunday the team worked in Laidley, cleaning more of the flood affected buildings.

‘In the afternoon we packed up the embassy, loaded up the vehicles and left to go home.

‘Without the tireless efforts of Anita from Laidley and Liam Annesley of LJ Hooker Byron Bay the work could not have gone as smoothly as it did, and everything they did was very much appreciated by the Byron Shire team.’

‘The Community in the Lockyer Valley conveyed to the team their appreciation for everything they did; they said they were moved by the fact that it was a community effort from the Byron Shire people and it will not be forgotten.’

Mr Adamek says he received hundreds of phone calls and emails in the two weeks before the trip and had replied to as many as 100 calls a day.

‘I’d like to apologise to anyone I did not manage to ring back or get around to – the response was so generous and overwhelming.’