Donations abound for victims of apartment fires

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This article was published 18/02/2019 (1893 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two recent fires in the Maryland Avenue area in January not only displaced dozens of residents but also destroyed much of their personal property.

Thankfully, the Spence Neighbourhood Association and the John Howard Society of Manitoba were there to help.

The fires broke out in apartment buildings in the 400 and 600 blocks of Maryland Street in mid-January, forcing out more than 120 people.

Both of the local organizations put out a call for the community to donate goods and dollars to help and the community responded generously.

“We’ve got a 3,000 square foot basement and it is full,” said John Hutton, executive director of the John Hutton Society.

“We have so much you’d have problems walking around.”

But Hutton said it’s a good problem to have, especially with so many people who have lost so much.

“When you’re already making choices between soup and soap, you won’t have insurance,” he said.

“We’re looking at lots of clothing collected, also cups and dishes and cutlery. It’s non-sexy items, but people really need it.”

Ben Simcoe, housing coordinator of the Spence Neighbourhood Association, said the next step — distributing the donations — will take longer than the time it took for the generosity to came in.

“Distributing donations will take a long time… we’re allowing most people to access one (person or family) at a time, by appointment,” Simcoe said.

Hutton said it’s also because people won’t need household items until they have a place to put them.

“We’ve been waiting for the families to find a place to live,” he said.

“We’re not worried about where all the items will go. Once we’ve made sure the fire families needs are met, any items left over will go to the folks in our community who need it. With us, leftover men’s clothing could go into our closet for the men we deal with.

“I’m just so grateful to live in Winnipeg. We don’t live here because it isn’t warm in January, but because the hearts of people are warm.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca