Say what you want about the Athabasca area, but it’s usually pretty good at stepping up to the plate. Every time there’s someone that needs money, be it an annual event like Walk a Mile or a family who lost their child, there’s never really a shortage of people coming forward and giving something, anything.
In December, two families were devastated by fire — one lost everything in a Calling Lake house fire and one watched their business of 26 years go down in flames. With both, it’s almost the worst-case scenario. They’re things that we all know could happen — we all know that in an instant, our lives and home could be destroyed by fire, but we never really expect it to. So, they’re definitely something that hits close to home.
So much so, that it didn’t take long for fundraisers to start up after both fires (through the Calling Lake Fire Department and through the gofundme website). It also didn’t take a whole lot of time for area residents to come forward and start giving money or items to help make some families’ lives easier, made especially difficult since both happened so close to Christmas.
We at the newspaper don’t really know if each source is close to what they need. That said, it really wouldn’t hurt to help out a little bit more. These are tragedies that shouldn’t be looked at objectively. They’re tragedies that could so easily happen to any one of us — “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” We’d all like to think that if something like them happened to us, we’d be able to lean on our communities to get through it.
So, although everyone’s wallet is understandably a little tight this time of year — what with Christmas shopping just barely finished — it seems to only be right to help out these families in their time of need. The area has no problem stepping up to the plate, so let’s step up to the plate. There are people in our communities that need our help and there are people in this community who can help.
The math really isn’t that hard.
Head over to the gofundme page or ask those posting on Facebook how you can help. It really can’t hurt – and can only help some families who really need it.
