Red Deer and Central Alberta has long been known as a location of dedicated volunteers and residents long on generosity, especially when a disaster strikes close to home.
The Slave Lake fire that devastated the lives of thousands of people prompted an outpouring of help from all over Alberta and it was strongly evident in Red Deer.
From small businesses such as Jo Dumont Fitness Training to chain restaurants such as Original Joe’s and the Red Deer Motor Dealers Association, the effort to help Slave Lake and area people rebuild their lives was swift.
Jo Dumont, owner of Dumont Fitness, was surprised at how far away people are coming from to drop off items.
She said earlier that in the first several hours after starting what figured to be a small relief effort, it turned into a major project. She said they started getting churches in Crossfield, Rocky Mountain House and Rimbey and Ponoka donating.
Soon the small effort turned into a major drive with volunteers, space for the goods and methods to deliver it to a central point all needed.
The volunteers turned out in the scores, reaching more than 150 in total, Wendy Scott estimated.
The Red Deer woman and volunteer said Dumont’s effort was fantastic.
“It was overwhelming at times with the amount of stuff we had to handle,” Scott said.
The gym had turned into the main drop-off point for all donations in Central Alberta.
The donations needed to be sorted, boxed and stored.
Dumont’s gym isn’t a big space so a spot in Ponoka was arranged with small horse trailers carting stuff to that point.
The donations kept rolling in all week and so did the volunteers.
At last tally the Dumont drive saw five truckloads of goods headed for the Slave Lake area.
Original Joe’s raised $13,756 from all 28 Alberta stores including Red Deer.
Original Joe’s donated $1 from each pint of beer sold on the Victoria Day long weekend.
The Red Deer Motor Dealer’s association donated $10,000 to assist in the relief efforts.
McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada and its Red Deer locations acted as another drop-off point and collected everything from bottled water to shampoo, granola bars and shoes for delivery to Jo Dumont.
The South Hill Bottle Depot received donations of bottles and cash to be turned over to the Alberta Red Cross.
The relief effort in Central Alberta is ongoing.
On Saturday the Sylvan Lake Lion’s Club is holding an “old fashioned family entertainment” night will proceeds going to the fire relief effort.
The event at the Lion’s Hall on 5119 50A Ave., in Sylvan Lake begins at 4 p.m. with children’s activities.
Music on the main floor starts at 5 p.m. with a jam session at 7 p.m. Cost is $2 for children, $3 for teens and $5 for adults.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com