13 yr old Evacuee Reunited with Family thanks to St. Paul Reception Centre

St. Paul Regional Emergency Management was activated, by the Province, on Wednesday as a Reception Centre for the evacuees coming from the Fort McMurray wildfire. Director of Emergency Management, for the St. Paul Region, Rob Duffy, says the St. Paul Rec Centre acts as a central starting point for evacuees to come, register, find family members and receive supplies. The centre has help hundreds of evacuees, so far with one really touching story says, Duffy.

“We had a 13 year old that was split up from her mom,” Duffy doesn’t know specifics on how the girl was split from her mom; but says some split ups happen because a child was in school when the evacuation order occurred and wasn’t able to touch base with parent for one reason or another. In many situations one parent was at work, while another at home, and kids at school; situations like that make reception centres really vital. “They evacuated her and she had no way of contacting her parents. Once we got her here, we got her name, filled out some forms, and found out where her mom was.” The Emergency Management team was even able to line Search & Rescue up to take the girl to her mom, “we had a member,  who had had all his criminal record checks, driver her to Lac La Biche to meet up with her mom.”

If people really want to help, bring cash and we can distribute it to the evacuees as they are coming in. – Rob Duffy Director of Emergency Management

“They can come here, they register with us, and what that allows us to do is get information back to the Province,” explains Duffy it’s important for evacuees to check in at reception centres. “If they have family that are looking for them, they have a way to follow up, track, and see where their family members are.”

The Reception Centre is used for a variety of reason, aside from assuring evacuees have made it out of the danger zones safely. “As people are coming in, we have a lot of other supplies that they can take at the same time. We have a lot of toiletries, and money that has been donated throughout the region of St. Paul. We’re able to give people some money, so that they’re able to go out and grab groceries, clothes, or whatever they need.”

Duffy urges people to stop donated items to the Reception Centre or any other donation collection centre. Often times this causes more hardship on the volunteer than good. Further, with cash or gift cards people are able to purchase exactly what they need. “We had had people bring clothes and we’ve actually had to put a stop to it. We’re getting a lot of clothes that doesn’t fit or in poor condition. So it’s just sitting here, hanging on our shelves,” Duffy says now volunteers must divert their attention from their main job to focus on what to do with these donations. Duffy stresses that if people want to donate to bring cash or gift cards, only or donate to the Red Cross.

For any and all evacuees that are still needing to register, the St. Paul Rec Centre is open 24 hours a day as the Reception Centre. The Rec Centre is located at 47th avenue & 53rd street, south of the UFO Landing Pad