Just some maybe helpful suggestions for those about to donate to the Flood victims of Queensland.

My heart goes out to those devastated by these floods, and the sight of the devastation on TV reawakens unwanted memories.

It is from my own experience that I offer these suggestions.

Just after the Victorian fires a number of things still stick with us that point to just how generous Us Australians can be and how such disasters can cause that generosity to transcend other differences and barriers.

It is the little personal things that mean the most.
For example after having to ring all our business customers to help us reconstruct our business records and ask them such things as 'Do you owe us money and how much?'. One lady rocks up on our doorstep (the office lady from one of our customers) with a bag of Towels and some soap. She claimed it was some spare stuff she had, and went. I opened the bag and the towels and soap were brand new.

She had gone out of her way to get these seemingly simple items then played down their value. The value to us in raising our spirits makes those towels the most valuable in the world.

When Joel from Extremekites started an appeal for us through his forum, at first I felt embarrassed but quickly that too became a spirit raiser just because it showed how people cared about us as individuals not as some faceless group.

So what I am saying is if you can. Find a family that you can relate to, maybe fellow windsurfers or kiters, and try to do something for them directly. It will truly help.