Sundre and area residents are raising money to help those in need through a Facebook auction page called “Neighbours helping Neighbours”.
People are invited to donate items for others to bid on and then the money raised goes towards helping members of the community in need, according to Shelley Kohut, founder of the Facebook page.
“The goal of this page is to raise money to help those in our community that might be going through a struggle of some sort, and to account to you how we spend it, but not on who,” said Kohut. “People donate items on there and then people bid on them and then we take the cash and we use it in areas that we feel there is a need.”
The page has been a success so far, with 361 members as of Wednesday. It was created on Sept. 10.
“The first thing we're going to do when we get enough money is adopt a family from the Santa's Anonymous,” she said. “But we might be using it also to donate haircuts -- so gift certificates from the hairdressers around town. We'd go buy some and then give them to, say, Greenwood Neighbourhood Place. So if somebody is going for a job interview they can get a haircut first to look their best.”
Items posted on the page will be available for a minimum of one week and will close on the second Wednesday after it has run for a week. Items can be dropped off at the Remax iRealty Innovations office in Sundre.
“As we approach the colder months we recognize that there are a lot of people in Sundre who sometimes need help. Maybe they're short at the end of the month and cannot pay a utility bill, or need groceries, or diapers for the baby,” she said.
“Life is full of unexpected surprises that can throw people into unexpected hardship.”
She refers to the Facebook page as a place for people to go “where they are treated with love, respect and it's all done with total privacy”.
