Red Cross Donation Update

From the Edmonton Sun

About $1.1 million in donations from generous Canadians has aided disaster relief efforts across Western Canada — including relief for fire ravaged Slave Lake — says the Canadian Red Cross. Officials with the Canadian Red Cross could not break down how much of the donations were spent for displaced Slave Lake residents after wildfires wiped subdivision right off the map.

Efforts are also being made to flooding disasters in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, said officials with the charity.

Nathan Huculak, a spokesman with the Canadian Red Cross, said most of the donations have come from Albertans. All of the donations to the Canadian Red Cross has been put into a Canadian disaster fund the charity uses to respond to disasters, said Huculak.

That fund will help displaced residents find long-term accommodations, clean-up efforts in Slave Lake, “and getting a home back to a stage that’s liveable,” said Huculak. “Canadians are typically very generous when it comes to times of disaster to support other impacted Canadians and others around the world,” said Huculak.

“Slave Lake is one of our core activities.”

Meanwhile, the province announced plans Saturday to move 100 firefighters, police, emergency medical service workers, and health care staff into hotels in Slave Lake to free up living spaces for residents who lost their homes.

“Our community won’t be whole until we get everybody back and I want our citizens to know that we won’t rest until we rebuild our community,” said Slave Lake Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinee in a press release. “We are working closely with (the provincial government) to get temporary housing in place for our displaced residents. Our hearts go out to everyone who experienced loss during the wildfire.”

The province said in a release that other options “are being explored” for housing options in Slave Lake and roughly 200 nearby camping spaces have been set aside for displace residents.