By Callum Ludwig
The Warburton Motel is running an important fundraiser to help Ukrainians fleeing their country as a result of the Russian invasion.
On Friday 4 March, the motel asked their social media followers to donate $20, the price of Ukrainian accommodation, to book a room in surviving motels in the country.
The response has been above and beyond what Warburton Motel owners Richard Stanwix and his wife Simone expected.
“At the moment, we’re looking at 70 to 80 rooms. I thought if we could get 20, 30, or 40 rooms that would be amazing – so it’s doubled my expectations,” Mr Stanwix said.
“We are thinking we will book 10 rooms at seven or eight motels to try and spread the love a little bit.”
The donations will be going directly to Ukrainian motels situated on the refugee route to Poland, and will hopefully help provide shelter, care and aid for fleeing citizens.
Mr Stanwix said whatever contributions the funds can go towards will feel like a success.
“In the grand scheme of things, it may be a tiny blip on a very large and troubled radar,” he said.
“But for those people the blip reaches, maybe it brightens their day a little bit and takes a bit of financial pressure off.”
Airbnb has a similar initiative running, where people from all over the world are booking Airbnbs in Ukraine to support citizens who have no income due to the war. Airbnb has waived all host and guest fees to support this.
Mr Stanwix said in a post-Covid world, small businesses understand the immense stress and pressure felt by each other in times of crisis, such as in Ukraine or the floods in Queensland and New South Wales.
“We call it being part of a broader philosophy around crisis management and it’s going to be more of a feature going forward for all of us,” he said.
The Warburton motel has also put its hand up to Yarra Ranges Council to be a crisis hub if the community is affected by disasters such as floods or bushfires.
“We’ve got a facility with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms. Just having a stable facility to provide the most basic care or facilities. That’s the conversation we’ve started.” Mr Stanwix said.
