Community raises $15,000 for young battler

Mud-crab lunch raises much-needed funds for sick boy.

TOP JOB: Racing legend Dick Johnson spoke at the Withcott Hotel's final mud-crab lunch for the year, which $15,000 for a young boy battling cancer. Picture: Contributed

THE Witchott community has once again banded together to help one of their own, raising $15,000 for a sick baby.

The Withcott Hotel hosted its third mud-crab lunch for the year last month, and this time they were raising funds for Austin Bliesner, a nine-month-old Toowoomba boy battling leukaemia.

Hotel owner Neil Simpson said the lunch had been a huge success and had broken their previous fundraising records.

"I set what I thought was a very optimistic target of $10,000 and we actually got $15,000," Mr Simpson said.

He said the support from the community was overwhelming.

"People were so generous it was amazing, we couldn't believe it," he said.

"To see the generosity of people was just incredible."

WONDERFUL: Abbygayle and Archie Bliesner with their younger brother Austin, who is battling leukaemia. $15,000 was raised for the Bliesner family at the Withcott Hotel's mud-crab lunch last month. Picture: Contributed

Austin's father Andrew was similarly blown away by the support.

"It was a really good feeling for complete strangers to do something like that for us," Mr Bliesner said.

He praised Neil and Gae Simpson for the work they did within the community.

"There needs to be more people like them in the world that care about other people and not just themselves," he said.

The guest speaker for the final lunch of the year was racing legend Dick Johnson, and Mr Simpson said he was one of the best speakers the hotel had ever hosted.

"He's a very down to earth sort of fellow... he was just absolutely brilliant," he said.

Pillars of the community

IT'S been 10 years since Neil and Gae Simpson took over the Withcott Hotel, and in that time they've been pillars of the community.

Mr Simpson has spent the best part of his life working in the hotel business in one way or another, and before taking over the Withcott Hotel he and Gae had in fact retired to the Sunshine Coast.

But this didn't last long before he again made the dive into the hotel business.

"To be honest I got bored," Mr Simpson said.

"I think I was too young to retire."

In the 10 years since, the hotel has become well known for the mud-crab lunches it hosts three times a year to raise money for charities.

In the decade they have hosted the lunches, Mr Simpson calculated the hotel had donated to 49 different causes and raised a total of $317,500.

He said the amount was as much a reflection on the Withcott and surrounding communities as it was on him.

Mr Simpson said having something like the Withcott Hotel meant he felt a duty to use it for good.

"It's something we can do to help out the whole community," he said.