Very appreciative’ of help

Following the devastating fire at the Edgehill Estates apartment complex that left dozens homeless, community groups in the Windsor area rallied together to help those in need.

The groups formed a committee and have been actively working together since early September, but things are wrapping up almost a month after the fire took place.

New Boundaries is one of the organizations that quickly got involved, becoming somewhat of a headquarters for donations of clothing, furniture and other household items.

Marilyn Thomas, executive director with New Boundaries, said it’s been a huge undertaking for the non-profit organization.

“That first weekend, we had such a huge influx of donations,” Thomas said. “Melanie Singleton (got) two 53-foot trailers delivered, just for the excess.”

Thomas said one trailer was used just for clothing and the other was for furniture and other miscellaneous items.

“It just kind of fell into our laps as people kept dropping donations off,” she said. “Initially, we were keeping things separate for fire victims and our store customers, but we’re just such a small space here.”

Thomas said fire victims can still get items free of charge from the New Boundaries store.

“We opened our doors and did the best we could,” she said. “We had staff, board members, family members, friends and complete strangers came in and volunteer their time to sort donated items. It was wonderful to see the support.”

The committee met for a final time on Sept. 26, giving out the final donations to Edgehill residents.

“It was a learning curve for all of us following this fire, and hopefully we’ll never have to do this sort of thing again,” she said. “But, if so, we have set a precedent and know where to go from here.”

Thomas said New Boundaries will finalize actively supporting Edgehill residents around Oct. 15, but added they will continue to help people who require assistance.

“If somebody comes in after that and says their child lost a snowsuit in the fire or they don’t have something, we certainly would not turn them away or charge them,” she said.

“We need to wrap up things at New Boundaries here to try to get back to some kind of normalcy. I’m not complaining, but we’ve lost two weeks due to the overflow and enormity of the situation. We did lose some revenue from it, but we’re doing what we can to help those who have nothing.”

Hants West MLA Chuck Por- ter, who helped organize the committee following the Sept. 1 fire, said a meeting on Sept. 20 at the town hall in Windsor provided financial assistance to people living in the Manor section of the complex, which remains standing.

“They also had losses — food and personal items,” Porter said.

Porter said the tenants of Edgehill Estates have been extremely grateful for the support they’ve received.

“I want to add how very appreciative I am to all those who have helped in any way and thank them very much for that and that it couldn’t have been done without them,” Porter said. The main committee organizers were:

Schools Plus - Emilie Smith Hants County Branch #9 RCL - Rose Ryan and Roscoe Schofield

Town of Windsor - Acting Mayor John Bregante and chief administrative officer Louis Coutinho

New Boundaries - Marilyn Thomas and Melanie Singleton Lansway Properties - Shelley McDermott, property manager DCS - Jennifer McCulloch

EMO - Don Dignan

Supporters and donors included Sobeys, Superstore, the Windsor Lions Club, Windsor Home Hardware, Swinamers Home Building Centre, Royal Canadian Legion No. 9 in Windsor, Harvest House, Matthew 25 Windsor and District Food Bank, Dollarama, The Parish of Christ Church Windsor, Windsor Baptist Church, as well as many individuals, who have donated everything from clothing to cash.