IRIS Bushfire Fundraiser (Vulcan Subtopic)

[IRIS - David Brice]

I've posted this here to try and spread the word about what we're doing this week. I trust the moderators will move this post if it's in the wrong place. I just didn't know where else to post it.

For those who don't know, the State of Victoria in Australia has seen the worst bushfires in history this weekend after reaching temperatures of high as 47.9C (119F). As a result over 750 homes have been destroyed and entire towns wiped off the map in a matter of minutes. The current death toll is at 108, with officials expecting it to rise as emergency personnel are able to get access to more fire affected homes and areas.

We (Myself and Karen) live northeast of Melbourne, and not to far away from where the fires are affecting. One area is only a 10 minute drive away, and those fires can move extremely fast given the right (or wrong) wind conditions. Many unfortunate souls were lost simply trying to outrun the fires with whole families lost in the blink of an eye.

Rather than going into detail on the event in this post, one of our national news websites has an article relating to the bushfires for those wanting more detailed information.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/744 ... -bushfires
(Please be warned, that some of the stories contained in that link may be distressing for some readers.)

Given the immediate needs of those affected, Karen, myself and our family will be donating food, clothing and other much needed supplies for the victims of this tragic event, plus some bacon and eggs for the volunteer firefighters who have been active non-stop over the weekend!

What we are pledging to do from the business side of things, is that ALL profits from sales generated this week from the IRIS store will be donated to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal to aid in the reconstruction and provide support, goods and services to those in need.
(http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services ... l-2009.htm)

The reason this only applies to the sales from the IRIS store is very simple. Our vendors, such as FSPilotshop, Simmarket etc pay on a monthly basis, and to be frank, the people in need cannot in many cases afford to wait. Our payments received from sales to the IRIS store only take around 48 hours from YOUR purchase to our accounts. In some cases, funds can be received next day. This allows us to donate much quicker and help far more effectively.

We will provide a running total on the IRIS Forums of the amount raised in AUD (Australian Dollars) so that you can be kept fully abreast of the fundraising efforts and in addition, I will be placing a pre-pay edition of the IRIS Vulcan on the store for those who have purchased everything else from us and wish to help out.

For those wanting to donate, but don't want to purchase a product, the Australian Red Cross website has a secure online donation form to use, the link is below.
(https://www.redcross.org.au/Donations/o ... ations.asp)

Alternatively, if you are having trouble accessing the Australian Red Cross donations form, you can pay via paypal to '[email protected]' ensuring you state in your payment notes 'IRIS Bushfire Fundraiser' so that we are aware the payment is a donation for us to forward on.

The IRIS Store is located at http://www.irissimulations.com/catalog/

I thank you for taking the time to read this post, and hope that many of you can help where possible.

Kind Regards

David, Karen & the IRIS Team

[DaveB]

A very noble and decent thing to do David. It's been shown on the news here in the UK this evening and must be devastating for those affected.

I wish you every success and hope for no further loss of life down under ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Paul K]

David, do you have a link whereby I can pre-order the Vulcan and contribute to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal ? As a one-time Australian resident , who saw a Vulcan crack the runway at Edinburgh SA and who holds your country very dear to his heart, I'd love to donate.

[IRIS - David Brice]

Paul,

I'm putting together a beta copy together at the moment for the pre-pay gang. Shouldn't be to long. I'll let you all know here when it's ready.

DB.

[DispatchDragon]

David .

The folks from "The Pond" (www.classicbritishfiles.com) would be happy to put an appeal on our front page with the Iris links
attached, I have been watching the fires on the news here and having experienced wild fires in San Diego my heart goes out to
these people. It seems insane that, (Like the Socal fires) they are arson.


Leif

[Paul K]

Paul,

I'm putting together a beta copy together at the moment for the pre-pay gang. Shouldn't be to long. I'll let you all know here when it's ready.

DB.

Great, thanks for that. In the meantime, all the best to you down there.

[Chris Sykes]

Ive helped more by posting the simouthouse link onto the News Groups for Windows 7 as theres a few FSX fans on them!

[forthbridge]

Excellent idea - and here's hoping for good support.

All the very best to all down under affected by this tragedy.

[Vulcan_to_the_Sky!]

David,

I cant image the difficulties that people are facing over there, I wish you every success with the fundraising.

[IRIS - David Brice]

Thanks so much for the support guys.

I had an e-mail from the CEO of EDimensional this morning (who run FS Pilotshop) offering to provide us our last months earnings early so that we can donate IRIS sales on FSPilotshop.com to the Bushfire relief fund. I have to say it's a very generous gesture and much appreciated by us here.

On the Vulcan news, unfortunately I'm having to hold off at the moment due to licencing issues. As with most things these days, we're required to pay a licence fee to TVOC for the use of the Vulcan. Until such time as that's down in writing and an agreement is made between us (IRIS) and TVOC, I cannot provide the Vulcan in any way.

I have no issue with this and am completely happy to support the Vulcan project, however it is a shame that this has at least temporarily put a stop on my plans of releasing an early pre-pay version of the Bomber.

We're aiming at a March 1st release date at the moment, however that's subject to change as circumstances may change between now and then.

Sorry to those waiting on a V Bomber early.