Employees and owners of an Olds trucking company are still looking for donations to take up to Fort McMurray fire evacuees. CLS (Central Logistic Solutions) is accepting monetary donations through e-transfer: info@clsolds.
Employees and owners of an Olds trucking company are still looking for donations to take up to Fort McMurray fire evacuees.
CLS (Central Logistic Solutions) is accepting monetary donations through e-transfer: [email protected]
"All of this money will go towards purchasing supplies and gift cards so people can start rebuilding their lives," the company said in a Facebook post last week.
Employees are also accepting donations at the company's warehouse at 4250 47 Ave. in Olds Monday to Thursday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
They are also accepting donations during the day, but if people wish to donate that way, they must arrange that via the CLS office because they don't have someone in the warehouse during the day. That can be arranged by calling 1-877-208-2929.
CLS will also pick up donations at businesses.
Drivers and volunteers plan to load up and leave Olds Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m.
"We are going to gather it all in our facility in Olds and/or from local residents – anyone who wants to donate – whether it's money, gift cards, essential needs, we will take it and distribute it to the shelters or camps or Red Cross shelters – wherever people are being housed for the interim," says Dana Overwater, one of the firm's owners.
"We have the capacity to be able to pick up from across Alberta and take it to where it needs to go."
Overwater stresses they'll take anything people donate that could help evacuees now and help them rebuild their lives in the future.
"We'll just do the initial kind of what people need right away to keep going and then from there, if people want to donate building supplies or mattresses, couches, televisions – things people will need as they find more permanent housing – then we can deliver that as well," Overwater says. "We're going to fill a truckload of stuff that needs to go. Anything of that sort."
Overwater says employees anticipate collecting stuff for a long time and likely making several trips to and from the Fort McMurray area.
"If we can collect more stuff, then we can take it at a later date; when they decide how they're going to rebuild or restart, because it's going to be a long process," she says.
"So if it's going to take us two or three months to deliver truckloads up there, we will do that. We will keep on taking as long as we can collect."
Overwater is not only pleased and impressed with the community's response, she feels the same way about the company's employees and their family members and friends.
"We're just a company of 12 employees, but everybody has been more than willing to pitch in and help out," she says, noting the firm's drivers are donating their time for the project.
She also notes that the company's youngest staff member – Victoria Belton, 20, kick-started the whole project.
"She's had people Facebooking her and emailing her with things that they need picked up, like diapers and those little things that add up," Overwater says.
[email protected]
"We're just a company of 12 employees, but everybody has been more than willing to pitch in and help out." DANA OVERWATEROWNER CLS
