Donations from Quesnel made their way to B.C.’s Interior, where firefighters struggle to contain dozens of wildfires.
Keri Osha, Adrianna Alec and Joely Paul stopped in Williams Lake outside Tim Hortons early Monday morning.
They were in the middle of a more than four-hour journey to deliver a truckload of blankets, towels, bottled water, non-perishable food, lozenges, toiletries and more all donated by community members to Mocassin Square Gardens in Kamloops.
Their original plan had been to go directly to Merritt and drop the donations off at the emergency response center now overwhelmed with support.
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“I think it’s really important to be together and start something like this,” Paul said.
Paul and Alec are part of the Indigenous Student Committee at Correlieu Secondary School, where Osha works as an Indigenous support worker.
After devastating images and news emerged from Lytton after a wildfire ripped through the village, destroying most of it, Paul said she received a message from Osha suggesting they do a donation drive.
Alec quickly agreed, and Osha put the word out on social media and with her contacts of the Student Committee seeking non-monetary donations to support families who lost their homes and community.
A drop-off location was set, and it did not take long for residents to show they have big hearts.
“Instantly, within a short bit, we had stuff coming in,” Osha said.
Alec and Paul helped load the truck Sunday night before it was smudged to make its long journey.
Wild Women of the North Society and Longname have also been accepting donations.
Donations at 772 Rolph Street were already loaded in the back of a truck, with half a trailer still waiting to be filled to be delivered Tuesday in possibly Hope.
Osha said on the first day their donation drive was launched a 5th wheel travel trailer was donated by a Quesnel family to support a family that had lost their home and all of their belongings in the Lytton fire.
The donation drive by the Indigenous Student Committee will continue into the foreseeable future.
“For as long as they need it. Until they’re all back to 100 per cent,” said Paul.
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