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Boyle lends a helping hand

Hundreds of residents from Boyle and the nearby summer villages have opened their homes and properties to Fort McMurray evacuees.
Inside Flo Solutions building where evacuees were getting clothes, food and hygiene products.
Inside Flo Solutions building where evacuees were getting clothes, food and hygiene products.

Hundreds of residents from Boyle and the nearby summer villages have opened their homes and properties to Fort McMurray evacuees.

“Right now, we have more supply than demand,” said Boyle’s chief administrative officer Charlie Ashbey, noting that most people now have a place to stay and those coming into the village are only stopping for gas.

“Some people, after a long drive, they just wanted a chance to unwind,” he said.

Ellen Knowles, the volunteer co-ordinating the reception centre at the Boyle Community Centre, said hundreds of people have signed up to give evacuees a place to stay.

Some families have also been housed at Portage College’s Pipeline Training Centre, and another person at the Wildrose Villa.

Since the community centre opened its doors May 3 around 10 p.m., the generosity has not stopped, even after its 1 a.m. closing time.

Mayor Bob Clark said a volunteer received a call at 4 a.m. from a family that needed a place to stay. She took the family in, and half an hour later got a call from a different family, which she placed in another house in those early hours.

Restaurants and gas stations in town were open all night, showers were available at the arena, and volunteers handed out water and snacks in parking lots.

Local carwash Flo Solutions also turned into a donation depot, which has since moved to the local arena.

Ashbey said he was given a phone number to the grocery store and told to call any time they needed supplies, and a modular building manufacturer talked about setting up a long-term camp for families, while they wait for their new homes to be built.

While there is no shortage of generosity in and around Boyle, good will goes beyond the borders of the village.

Albertans from Vermillion, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Newbrook and Lamont have dropped off donations of water, food, clothing and baby items.

“The Hutterites at (New) Pine (Creek) Colony brought us 50 loaves of bread, beautiful buns, potatoes, chickens, eggs, ham – it’s just been amazing,” Knowles said. “I went to bed last night thinking about all the things that we took in yesterday and all the boxes of food that people took out with them. Our objective was that if somebody came in and we could fill their bellies, let them take groceries out of here, clothes from the clothing (donations), and maybe a little bit of gas if they needed, then our job is done.”

She said that on May 5 alone, around 2,500 people visited the community centre for much needed rest and respite.

Despite the high traffic, the village never ran out of fuel.

“At 10 o’clock last night, we needed to get some fuel, so the service stations could keep opening,” Ashbey recalled. “Bob Clark’s neighbour just happens to run the fuel business. So 10 o’clock at night, (it was) no problem to whip up a load of fuel. And that doesn’t happen anywhere but a small town.”

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