BC Wildfire Relief Fund Update
Hello GiveWise family:
First off, we continue to be thankful to be a part of Growing Generosity.
The 2023 BC wildfires have caused devastation that is difficult to summarize, and many families will continue to be affected long-term. We desire to help, and so we put together the BC Wildfire Relief Fund, simply to offer a way to give that people can be confident in.
- Confident that the funds end up with agencies that are making the most of them, ultimately benefitting those affected in the most direct manner.
- Confident that GiveWise is passing on every single dollar donated.
Our GiveWise team is honoring that confidence.
The fires may not be making headlines every day, but there are still people who are evacuated from their homes, and for others who have lost their homes, the long process of recovery is just beginning. From a September 14th Canadian Press report:
“The Central Okanagan emergency operations centre says residents of 16 properties along Bear Creek Road are allowed to go home, although they remain on evacuation alert and must be ready to leave again if the McDougall Creek wildfire flares.
Evacuation orders were lifted for more than two dozen other properties on Wednesday, weeks after thousands of residents were chased out by the fast-moving wildfire.
The centre says about 350 properties are still under evacuation order and close to 5,000 are on evacuation alert as the fire remains out of control, nearly a month after it was reported.”
Here are the agencies that GiveWise is granting the funds out to equally for ongoing services:
Central Okanagan Food Bank
“As evacuation orders began to lift, those who had a house to return to came home to a fridge full of spoiled food due to electricity being shut off.
Some of our neighbours lost everything they owned. Many will be left with substantially less income due to work disruptions, especially in the hospitality industry.
We are doing our best to help the many people now facing financial uncertainty. People who lost all their food in the wildfire, and those who are struggling to make ends meet from missed work... and we need your help!”
Salvation Army
“To date, throughout the B.C. interior, the Army has provided 24,564 meals, 38,736 drinks, 30,405 snacks and 1,102 instances of spiritual and emotional care.
The second group we have been serving is firefighters. This began a couple of days into the evacuation and has carried on with three or four meals a day for up to 240 firefighters.
Through our experience two years ago when there was a fire in the adjacent community, we recognized many people will incur expenses that will never be covered through insurance or other aid. As a result, we have begun a recovery fund for people. We wanted to walk alongside them, providing them spiritual and emotional care, as well as practical assistance in the coming days of rebuilding.”
Key Takeaways
Through this process we learned some things. Our BC Wildfire Relief Fund didn’t gain much traction. We didn’t raise many dollars, and it is our prayer that this was because folks were giving directly to agencies already, and that maybe our efforts were somewhat redundant. But we also saw how politicized the issue of wildfires has become, and it frankly made our hearts hurt. Comments on certain Social Media channels ranged from unhelpful to downright crazy.
Our GiveWise community raised $3,105 from 10 donors, and we thank you for your continued commitment to Growing Generosity!
A reminder that GiveWise is distributing 100% of the funds donated to the BC Wildfire Relief Fund, and is not taking one penny.