Wildfire Donations Centre appeals for basic items to aid Fort McMurray

A volunteer packs a cardboard box with children’s Crocs and flipflops. Beside her, two women sort through a table of contact lens solutions and first aid supplies.

Crates of blue jeans are stacked in one aisle across from pallets piled with cartons of baby diapers.

That’s only one small part of the Alberta Wildfire Donations Centre, a cavernous 175,000-squarefoot warehouse in west Edmonton filling up with more than 2,000 pallets stacked with goods that people are donating to residents of Fort McMurray and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo who may need a few essentials following last month’s wildfire evacuation.

There are notes from children attached to some items.

“There was a stuff-the-bus program that was done and all the kids sent little drawings and pictures of things that they collected and sent,” said Claudia Young, warehouse manager.

“It really makes you feel like we care and somebody cares about somebody else, even though they have no idea who this person is, but we all, as Canadians, care for each other.”

On Tuesday, a partnership was announced between the regional municipality, the Alberta government and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to deal with the growing mountain of donated goods from across the country.

The relief agency will receive, sort, store, catalogue and distribute material donations. It will also develop a strategy to work with other non-profits and community groups to co-ordinate collection and distribution of donations across the province.

“The agency has six decades of expertise and experience managing large-scale humanitarian and disaster relief efforts throughout the world, including Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy,” said Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee.

She appealed for donations of basic items such as new towels, pillows and baby bottles as well as volunteers to help sort donations to prepare for shipping to Fort McMurray and other communities. The donations centre operated by the agency is at 17306 129 Avenue N.W. Individuals, community groups and businesses wanting to donate can call 310-4455 for instructions. People wanting to volunteer are asked to register online.

James Astleford, executive director of Adventist Development and Relief Agency Canada, said the wildfire crisis reminded him of the tornado that struck Edmonton in 1987. “At that time, Albertans responded with incredible generosity and we’re seeing that again today,” Astleford said.