What began as a simple act of kindness by Donna Mirus quickly turned into an outpouring of community compassion for the people victimized by the Slave Lake forest fires.
The entire northern Alberta town was evacuated May 15 when wildfire crossed the town's boundary, eventually burning to the ground over 300 homes and damaging many more.
The co-owner/operator of the Olds Sandbox Indoor Playground has friends and history in Slave Lake, so she began scouring the web to find a way to donate.
“I'm devastated,” said Mirus. “My girlfriend lost her home. She watched it burn to the ground.”
Though Mirus found a Facebook page entitled “Slave Lake Needs Everything,” its only donation drop-off point was in Red Deer.
However, linked on the page was a website (www.rebuildslakelake.com) that was compiling a master list of donation drop-off centres in an attempt to simplify relief efforts for evacuees.
“If making a donation is inconvenient, people won't do it.”
Mirus says she knew locals would help out if the opportunity was provided, so she offered up her business, which she co-owns with Niki Brown-Morin, as a drop-off point.
She then called CKFM to spread the word, and what happened next was an outpouring of compassion for the families of Slave Lake.
“My space is limited, so I'm getting kind of nervous,” Mirus told the Albertan on Tuesday. “We have a great community.”
An hour or so after posting on the blog and calling in to the radio station, donations were flooding in.
“It's been a quiet morning for business, but that's good because I've been kept busy with all the people showing up.”
“We've had everything from kids dropping off books to seniors dropping off packages of cups.”
Amongst other donations were clothing, blankets, baby items, small appliances, and brand new toiletries.
Also, Olds Pet Planet donated numerous bags of dry dog and cat food for owners that managed to escape with their pets.
Co-owner Niki Brown-Morin said the people in the community are very compassionate and willing to help out.
“We put a call out on the radio today for people to take items up to a drop-off point in Calgary, and we've had two people call already to offer their trailers,'” said Brown-Morin on Wednesday.
Even new residents like Bonnie Cole, who just moved to Olds with her husband, are making sure they get involved.
Cole heard the message on the radio and brought in a large bag of clothes to donate.
“It's just devastating. I can't imagine what it would be like to have nothing,” said Cole.
“My husband and I went through our clothes this morning. We thought, maybe someone else could use them.”
“They've got nothing, right down to socks. A toothbrush. Toothpaste. The essentials – things we take for granted.”
“You see this sort of devastation in other places around the world, like Japan, but when it hits people in your own province, it really sinks in,” said Mirus.
The owner of the website, Angie McConnell, has been keeping her website up to date while performing her job as a communications assistant in Camrose.
“I don't sleep,” said McConnell on Wednesday.
“We've been trying to get it up and running for the evacuees as a resource for them to go to.”
“My cousins, aunts and uncles are from Slave Lake, and my mom and dad live in Smith, which is right beside it.”
McConnell's cousins lost their home in the fires, and her other relatives' homes faced severe smoke damage.
“Some people don't understand the value of the volunteer fire department in Slave Lake,” said McConnell.
Her 19-year-old brother, Patrick, was fighting fires for 32 straight hours.
“They're the unsung heroes of this whole thing.”
