A group of Vernon businesswomen have come up with their own way to lend a hand with the ongoing wildfire situation.
Alison Ludditt, Lisa Gallie and Li Fryling have opened a donation centre to support the hundreds of evacuees from the Central Okanagan who have arrived at Vernon鈥檚 Emergency Support Service (ESS) reception centre at Kal Tire Place Arena.
With wildfires raging in the Central Okanagan and Shuswap, Ludditt, like many other Vernonites, desperately wanted to help in some way. However, Vernon鈥檚 ESS had all the volunteers it needed.
Ludditt heard from a friend who was an ESS volunteer that donations of food, clothes and other items were needed, but the city couldn鈥檛 accomodate the collection.
After Gallie began inviting people to drop off donations at her store, Big Sun, Ludditt 鈥� owner of The Room Collection 鈥攈ad the idea to offer up her furniture warehouse to collect, sort and store donated items.
People are welcome to come by the back of the warehouse at 907 Kalamalka Lake Rd., where already a team of volunteers has come out of the woodwork to accept donations.
鈥淧eople are just itching to do something to help,鈥� Ludditt said. 鈥淲e all feel so lucky and so grateful that this year it鈥檚 not us, and the minute Lisa put out the word to drop donations at Big Sun, people started showing up. And then as soon as we said we have a warehouse for your stuff, they came in droves.鈥�
The women have set up a 鈥渇ree store鈥� at Kal Tire Place 鈥� a trailer filled with donated goods that evacuees and firefighters can help themselves to.
They started the initiative Monday morning and will be at the warehouse tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., when the free store will also be available.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been unbelievable. Businesses that have shown up with $1,000 to $2,000 worth of donations, and just all the humans that are really wanting to help, they show up with boxes of diapers and juice boxes and snacks for the firefighters,鈥� said Ludditt, adding Vegpro in Lavington donated 700 bags of salad yesterday.
Ludditt knew there would be evacuees forced from their homes in need of basic items, but was surprised to learn that the firefighters are in need of items too.
鈥淭hey are not being nourished as well as they should be,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are getting meals but they need energy drinks and protein bars and chocolate and all these things just to boost them up, because they are working 18 hours at a time.鈥�
Firefighters are also in need of fresh fruit and vegetables, Ludditt said.
While the women have been authorized by Vernon鈥檚 ESS to bring donations to Kal Tire Place, no one else has that authorization. The women are asking people to bring donations to the warehouse as the ESS does not have the resources to process donated items.
All donations must be new, as required by the ESS.
Check out the Instagram accounts of and for updates on which items are needed at a given time.
Items currently in need include:
鈥� Men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 clothing
鈥� Baby formula
鈥� Bottles of juice, pop
鈥� Protein drinks in plastic bottles
鈥� shampoo, conditioner, hair brushes
鈥� Soap and deodorant (male and female)
鈥� Diapers
鈥� Phone chargers
Ludditt says the team will continue to help for as long as needed, and with more firefighters coming to the area, she expects the need to last 鈥渇or quite a while.鈥�
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