Cross-country compassion
More than $5,000 raised for storm-struck Islanders by Ottawa firefighter with P.E.I. home
COVEHEAD WEST, P.E.I. — In the days following posttropical storm Fiona, David Burke wanted to help.
He would have been out with his chainsaw, aiding the cleanup, but he was stuck in Ottawa.
Burke is district chief with the Ottawa Fire Service, and he has a summer home in P.E.I.’S Covehead West. He was last in P.E.I. in August a few weeks before the storm, but could not get away from work to come back after the weather disaster.
So, he did what he could from a distance. He held a fundraiser for those most impacted by one of the worst storms in Canadian history.
“I haven’t been back since, but from what I saw on TV and what I heard, it’s pretty bad,” Burke said in an interview with Saltwire Network. “It’s unsettling (to see), but there wasn’t really much I could do. Much like anybody else, when it was over it was over.”
Burke wanted to hold the fundraiser within the fire service, so he had to work through some red tape. But this also meant the Ottawa Professional Fire Fighters Association contributed to the drive, topping up the $5,131 in fundraiser money to make a total of $5,500, he said.
When Burke was planning the fundraiser, he wanted to help a couple of areas: fishing, agriculture and working Islanders. Getting that money to people was another question, and so was deciding who to give it to, he said.
“I always wanted to, from day one, to split the money three ways between fishing, farming/agriculture as well as the ‘everyday Islander.’ So, in my head I was going to distribute roughly a third to each group. And I also had thought the everyday Islander would be as simple as grocery gift cards.”
That left the farming and fishing sectors to figure out distribution and candidates.
Burke called several organizations, such as the Federation of Agriculture and local harbour authorities, but those groups were not set up to take cash donations.
AGRO CO-OP
Still, he kept looking, and eventually met Colleen Dean from the Agro Co-op, a farming store in Charlottetown. Without any way to make small donations to the fishing industry, Burke is splitting the fundraiser between farming and Islanders who need groceries.
Dean’s role is helping to get the word out to Island farmers about the six offerings of $500, and then Burke can decide who to give it to. She was impressed when Burke called her.
Contributing to a fundraiser is one thing, but going the extra mile and starting one up was a lot of work for Burke, Dean said.
“The fact that he would go out of his normal life and do something and go to this much work, is really amazing. … I can’t honestly say I have never done anything like David.”
So far, though, response has been a bit muted. The harvest season is still ongoing, and this could be a factor.
“It’s not as busy as I thought it would be. We had some issues with our Facebook page. We posted it and then it wasn’t showing up, but we got that figured out. But I can say really, it’s surprisingly low.”
Another issue is pride. Those who have the most need are sometimes less likely to come forward, she said.
“You can’t control people to do that, so I don’t know how that will pan out.”
In terms of need from Co-op clients, repairing barns is the biggest issue Dean has been hearing. The store is essentially a hardware store, so they should be able to fill any of those gaps, she said.
On the other hand, everyone’s problems after Fiona were different, and she understands some people may have more of a need for groceries, which they do not carry.
With Burke in Ottawa for a few more weeks, Islanders still have time to reach out.
“I hope to come down in late November to try and distribute some of the funds we have raised,” Burke said.