Baked Relief: Crowdsourced help to feed those affected by Queensland flooding

In our real-time world, one person – such as Danielle Crismani – with passion and a computer or mobile device can make a huge difference in the world.

I've been following the terrible flooding situation in Queensland, Australia. I've been to this beautiful part of the world several times, and I am scheduled to deliver a Real-Time Marketing & PR Masterclass in association with Business Connect in Brisbane, a hard-hit city, in early April. (I’m also presenting in Melbourne and Sydney.)

Yesterday, Mel Kettle, a freelance marketing consultant based in Brisbane, contacted me via Twitter to share a remarkable story of Baked Relief a crowdsourced support for those affected.

Baked Love

Baked Relief - #bakedrelief - is a movement of thousands of people who bake and cook, providing home-prepared food to people directly affected by the floods as well as those Volunteering, emergency workers such as QLD Police, Fire & Ambulance workers and the military.

The Baked Relief movement was started by Danielle Crismani when she tweeted on January 10 to tell her followers that that she would take cupcakes to the volunteer Sandbaggers working near her home.

The next day was the first use of the #bakedrelief hashtag. On January 17, www.bakedrelief.org was launched. The site provides details for those willing to volunteer and those in need. It also accepts donations from people like me who are far away from the devastation.

On January 18, #bakedrelief was the #2 trending hashtag in Australia with #qldfloods in the #1 spot.

Many people are blogging and tweeting to spread the word and Australia's mainstream media has picked up on the movement including this report from The Today Show.

Mel and Danielle assume at least 1,000 people in South East Queensland alone (not just Brisbane) have volunteered. People are driving over two hours away to deliver food, and they know of at least one group - Funky Pies - who drove up from Sydney (about 1,000km and 12 hour drive) to deliver their pies to people working at Volunteering Queensland, Queensland Police and an evacuation centre.

Crowdsourced help for those in need.

This story is a great example of the power of real-time communications. No traditional advertising, media relations, or marketing techniques were used. The entire effort was crowdsourced in real-time.

How are you making a difference in people's lives?

Comments

[Ellen Rossano]

This is a perfect example of crowdsourcing in an emergency-providing a resource that helps the response. Emergency managers who are not monitoring social media channels miss so much critical and helpful information.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate says, "The public isn't a liability during a disaster, they're a resource." The people in Queensland who coordinated this effort are certainly an asset during this emergency response effort.

[TrafficColeman]

Its an sad story of all the tragedies that go on in the world..people are just being sought out by bad weather every where..

BTW David..Can you can contact me on my contact page..Its very important..I need your help.

"Black Seo Guy "Signing Off"

[Mel Kettle]

David, thanks so much for this. I didn't tell you the story of the cookie photo. A woman in Sydney emailed us to say she wanted to do something for Baked Relief, but lived in Sydney. So she made over 100 of these cookies (shaped as a map of Australia, with the heart over Queensland), sold them for $3.50 each and donated the $. We just loved that story and HAD to use the photo.
Mel Kettle