Many people are still out of their homes in Calgary and some 300 of them spent Saturday night at the Southland Leisure Centre. Volunteers from a variety of agencies all worked together to meet the needs of the evacuees.
Canadian Red Cross volunteers Sarah Flynn and Tracy Warrington have been helping with family reunification. Sarah says that family members will come to them looking for a client who might be in their shelter, they will take down their contact information, communicate with the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) and then try to connect the families involved. So far they have registered 27 inquiries.
Sarah travelled to Calgary from Edmonton on Friday night to spend her weekend volunteering. She has been working since Friday night and will be working until Sunday night at 8 pm when she will drive back home to be at work on Monday morning.
Tracy says that with 300 people staying at the evacuation centre their work doesn’t stop at family reunification. They also help people contact friends and family for alternate places to stay.
Even though they have a lot of people who have been affected, family and friends, they both say they were fortunate to be able to give back to their communities.
(L-R) Volunteers Tracy Warrington and Sarah Flynn are working the family reunification table at Southland Leisure Centre.