Guest post by Jason Small, Communications Advisor at the Red Cross in Manitoba
The cat came back in Dauphin, Manitoba and so too will the Canadian Red Cross.
The cat in question, Sylvester, a black cat who lived in Dauphin’s Towers Hotel, came back from a near-death experience after he rode the front of the hotel’s second storey down to the ground as it collapsed following a recent fire. The fire left several residents without a home, including the cat.
The harrowing
video footage of the cat peeking out of the top of the hotel’s facade just as it was beginning to fall to the ground was quickly seen around the world. The video showed him emerging from the rubble only seconds later, looking damp from the fire hoses but otherwise healthy.
Sylvester later made an appearance outside the shelter set up by Canadian Red Cross volunteers for residents of the hotel who had been left with nowhere to go after the fire. While there, the Red Cross got a picture of the cat, who looked none too happy about the experience.
Sylvester came back and the Red Cross plans to do the same in the near future. After operating a shelter for three days, Canadian Red Cross plans to return to Dauphin to find volunteers to create a Personal Disaster Assistance (PDA) team in the community, which is about four hours northwest of Winnipeg.
“We want to have a team of Dauphin-area volunteers trained and in place for the future so that when something similar to the Towers Hotel fire happens, we can immediately provide assistance to people who are suddenly forced out of their homes,” said Cailin Hodder, Manitoba provincial lead, planning and response, for the Disaster Management program.
Cailin Hodder is planning to visit the community again in the near future and hopes to begin recruiting volunteers.
If you would like to help people affected by disasters in Manitoba, consider becoming a
Disaster Management team volunteer.