Chinook Country Veterinary Clinic staff are amazed and extremely grateful for the support they received to make a house into a new home for Fort McMurray wildfire evacuees.
When clinic owner Darlene Donszelmann heard about the wildfire evacuation, she decided to make a rental house on clinic property available. It had stood empty since April and she had been renovating it.
She posted with evacuation organizers to let them know the house was available. They got a call that a family was coming down the next day. So clinic staff and friends scrambled to get the house ready.
Chinook Country Veterinary Clinic receptionist Melissa Dreger is astounded with the response once Olds residents found out via social media and elsewhere that help was needed.
“We've had many, many, many members of our community step up,” she says.
“We had a gentleman who owns A Gallery of Floors in Olds come by Saturday. He donated his workers' time, charged us very minimally and installed new carpet and vinyl flooring for us in the main living room area.
“(We got) brand new recliners, furniture, beds, bedding, clothes, furniture, toiletries, kitchen utensils, kitchen table, chairs – so many things.
“That house is probably in better shape than most people starting out,” Dreger says. “Everything from blenders and coffee pots and non-perishables.
“A lady dropped off a $100 gift certificate. Another lady on Facebook has stepped up and offered to take the kids geo-caching. Another lady has offered to step up and do a photo shoot for the family. One woman provided a huge barbecue.
“We had a lady who went down and bought brand new sheets, dish towel sets, easily $100; brand new items that she dropped off yesterday for the family.
“There's just been a huge outpouring of support from our community.”
Initially the vet clinic was told the house would be home to a mother and daughter but they ended up staying with relatives elsewhere.
So then it became home to a man with three kids and his neighbour. However, that neighbour is only expected to stay for a couple of weeks before going back up to Fort McMurray to help with the cleanup there.
“As of Sunday we were set up perfectly for a mom and a daughter. However, then our numbers pretty much tripled,” Dreger says.
“People just rallied together. We posted Monday morning, looking for a little bit of extra stuff and by last night we had everything we need, plus more.”
So anything that is not needed for the family or the home will be donated back to the Fort McMurray relief effort.
And if Fort McMurray relief organizers don't need it, “then we'll be taking it to the Red Deer women's shelter,” Dreger says.
Dreger is blown away by the support they received from the Olds community for this family.
“They are absolutely amazing,” she says. “Everybody came together for such a great cause.
“I mean, Fort McMurray (residents) are our neighbours; they're our brothers and sisters. We're all from the same province. Just to see everybody rally together.
“People are digging deep in a hard economy right now where everybody's kind of struggling on their own to reach out to try and make things a little more easy for those who are suffering through this, right? So it's just selfless and so heartwarming to see everybody step up like this.”
"People are digging deep in a hard economy right now where everybody's kind of struggling on their own to reach out to try and make things a little more easy for those who are suffering through this."MELISSA DREGER
