South West pubs among dozens in WA donating to Kimberley flood victims through parmi fundraiser

Dozens of pubs across WA are banding together to show support for the Kimberley flood victims, utilising a classic pub staple.

Bunbury’s Highway Hotel, Busselton’s Ship Inn and the Dunsborough Tavern are part of a number of pubs across Western Australia doing their bit for Kimberley flood victims by donating $2 from every chicken parmigiana sold between January 6 and 15 to the Lord Mayor’s Distress Relief Fund.

Endeavour Group announced on Tuesday that all 27 ALH hotels across the state would be taking part in the fundraiser.

It comes as the once-in-a-century floods that hit Fitzroy Crossing on January 3 left more than 100 homes damaged and caused catastrophic damage to bridges in the area, with the town likely to remain cut off by road for months.

Highway Hotel venue manager Jake Lamb said the ALH Group had a history of supporting local charities wherever possible and showing support for the Kimberley flood victims were no exception.

“It has been sensational so far,” he said.

“Yesterday was our Parmi day and we were just absolutely inundated with people ordering parmis which has really helped the cause.”

Mr Lamb said the Highway Hotel has also been planning another day of fundraising on Friday with various activities on the agenda.

“In the Sports Bar we will be running some meat raffles, coin tosses and a few other games for charity to try and raise what we can for the flood relief,” he said.

“In addition, this weekend we will be selling kids ice-creams for a gold coin donation as well.”

ALH WA state manager Ric Torchia said the parmi fundraiser was the group’s way of showing support to those “doing it really tough right now”.

“On average, our hotels across the state sell about 5000 parmigianas in a normal week, and so we expect to raise upwards of $10,000 from the initiative, which will go directly to supporting those impacted by the floods,” he said.

“We’ve already raised $1200 since we kicked off the campaign on Friday, and we expect parmi sales to really ramp up in the lead-up to the weekend.”