Donations kept piling up at Alexander this week as people from across the province rallied for Slave Lake.
Resident Sharice Cardinal was busy sorting through yet another truckload of donations at the Alexander community hall this week. Cardinal, 23, has been running a 24/7 emergency shelter for people displaced by the fire in Slave Lake since May 17.
About 7,000 people were forced to flee Slave Lake after wildfires swept through much of the community. Slave Lake has about 2,000 aboriginal residents, according to Statistics Canada, and is surrounded by many smaller aboriginal communities.
Cardinal says she got the idea to do a donations drive on May 15 shortly after the Slave Lake fire hit the news. “I started posting on Facebook and we got three truckloads [of donations] before noon.”
Hauling them to the emergency shelter at Westlock, she says she was struck by the sheer number of people she saw crowded into it. “They were really overwhelmed with people,” she recalls, some of whom had little more than moccasins on their feet. “They had no chance to get anything.”
One call to Chief Allan Paul later, Cardinal had taken over the Alexander community hall for use as a shelter. Now the donations are pouring in from places like Red Deer, Morinville, Rich Valley and St. Albert. “My community stepped up big time,” she added — youths have come in to staff the centre and families have donated food and clothing.
Shirts, shoes, toys and toiletries are stacked high on the shelter’s stage and tables, ready for those who need them. Nobody has used the shelter’s cots yet, Cardinal says, but many families have come by to accept other supplies. “We’ve had loads and loads of people drop by,” she says — about 40 per day, she estimates.
Many Alexander residents have relatives in Slave Lake or nearby Wabasca, says Chief Allan Paul, and some have lost homes in the region. Residents are also keeping a close eye on wildfires near Fox Creek in case they threaten lands the band has in that region.
Reserves across the province have stepped up to help the people of Slave Lake, Paul says. “If there’s any more we can do ... we’ll be around when they need our services.”
He praised Cardinal and her volunteers for their tremendous efforts. “It’s good to see the young people and the elders come out and do something like that.”
Cardinal says the shelter will likely stay open until at least today — it depends on her volunteers. Any leftover donations will go to the Treaty 8 office in Edmonton, which is co-ordinating a larger relief effort.
Organizing this shelter was just the right thing to do, according to Cardinal. “They would have stepped in for us if we needed it.”
