Gary Tinker did not know what to expect when he arrived at the Evraz shelter on July 1. He and his family had just spent nine hours on a bus ride from Pinehouse, Saskatchewan. Like the 1,500 residents from his community, he was given little time pack before leaving.
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Red Cross volunteer Fabrice Vanhoutte loves putting a smile on children’s faces. So, he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve for the young people in a Saskatoon shelter.
“If I see a kid who is upset, I don’t necessarily go right up to them but I stay nearby and play my mouth organ or start showing a card trick,” says Vanhoutte.
It’s an exciting time for some of the people evacuated by the Saskatchewan wildfires who get to return to their communities. There are plenty of smiles as they board buses on their way back home. Most have mentioned looking forward to sleeping in their own beds; others are excited to see their pets.
Lynn MacLeod didn’t worry when she volunteered to fly across the country to help people affected by the Saskatchewan wildfires. She knew that she was well-prepared.
“I’m so happy for all of our Red Cross training! It means I can go anywhere in the country and know how to help,” says MacLeod, who is from Prince Edward Island.
Selena and her son, Jade, were visiting Prince Albert when they heard people at home in Air Ronge were evacuating because wildfires and heavy smoke threatened their community.
The news meant they couldn't return home, not even for a toothbrush, Selena recalls.
At around eight in the morning on a dry Thursday morning during monsoon season, a big Red Cross truck full of relief supplies shows up in front of the local school in the community of Kalikasthan. Volunteers start unloading hygiene kits, blankets, kitchen sets and tarpaulins.
Getting separated from family during the confusion of a disaster is one of the most frightening things that can happen to people. That's why the role performed during the Saskatchewan wildfires by Red Cross volunteer Barb MacLean is so important.
More than 150 Canadian Red Cross volunteers and staff from the Prairies and other parts of Canada have been mobilized to assist thousands of people who had to evacuate their homes in Northern Saskatchewan as a result of fires.