Home Depot Volunteers Leap Into Action in B.C.

When Home Depot staff learned the evacuation order for Barriere, BC, was to be lifted, they got right to work organizing clean-up kits and volunteers.  More than 40 volunteers packaged, trucked and distributed 2,000 clean-up kits to returning evacuees in Barriere and area.  Families had been out of their homes for days while wildfires ravaged the area.

“We had a substantial number of materials sent from warehouses across the province,” says Linda Warner, Operations Assistant Manager for the Kamloops store.  “Our staff jumped right in to volunteer as soon as they knew what we were doing.  It’s been a good thing for us to do—people are so grateful to have these supplies to clean their smoke-damaged homes.”

Craig Howaniec, Home Depot’s General Manager in Kamloops, has also been volunteering for the past two days, despite having a new baby only a day before the evacuation order was lifted.  “My wife is very supportive,” says Howaniec. “This was a large disaster affecting thousands of people in our community.  Many lost everything—their homes, their belongings and for some, their livelihoods.” 

The Home Depot team has been handing out supplies at the Recovery Centre in Barriere since Saturday morning when the Centre opened.  But they knew many people would be focused on going through their homes on their first day back.  Most of the evacuees had bad news awaiting them, including foul fridges and freezers that had lost power earlier in the week.  “We decided that we’d also go through the town and deliver kits to anyone who needed them,” says Howaniec.  “These people have been through so much already and we want to help make their transition back easier.” 

In addition to clean-up kits, the Home Depot donated palettes of bottled drinking water.  “We’ve been dropping off water to relief workers and emergency personnel as well as returning evacuees,” says Howaniec.  “And our help isn’t going to end here—we will be looking at a further commitment to the community to help them recover from this disaster.” 

Home Depot is a national disaster partner with Canadian Red Cross, providing much-needed supplies and volunteers to families affected by disasters across Canada.