{"id":54726,"date":"2015-07-08T23:33:28","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T15:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=54726"},"modified":"2015-07-08T23:33:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T15:33:28","slug":"saskatchewan-evacuees-say-not-enough-food-blankets-at-alberta-evacuation-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/07\/08\/saskatchewan-evacuees-say-not-enough-food-blankets-at-alberta-evacuation-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan evacuees say not enough food, blankets at Alberta evacuation centre"},"content":{"rendered":"
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COLD LAKE, Alberta — Some people who had to flee their homes due to a fast-approaching forest fire in northern Saskatchewan say the evacuation centre they are staying at in Alberta is lacking basic amenities.<\/p>\n

Jennifer and Mable Isbister, who live in La Ronge, say the past two days haven’t been easy for them or their families.<\/p>\n

With no time to pack their things, they and hundreds of others boarded a bus to Prince Albert, Sask., then on to Cold Lake, Alta.<\/p>\n

When they reached the recreation centre in Cold Lake, Jennifer was given a fold-up cot with a small wool blanket to sleep on. Others didn’t get blankets, the sisters said, adding there is not enough food to go around either.<\/p>\n

“This morning they ran out of stuff again,” Mable said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“It’s going to be a continuing process,” Jennifer added, “Some of us didn’t even have supper last night or breakfast this morning.”<\/p>\n

Some elders had to leave home without their medicine, wheelchairs and walkers, and getting to meals has been a challenge, she said.<\/p>\n

“I went and borrowed an office chair and helped my grandpa,” Jennifer said, “I put him in there and took him to the kitchen and took him outside for a smoke. So he’s keeping that chair with him. He’s using that.”<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, there were around 680 evacuees were being housed in Cold Lake.<\/p>\n

J.P. Taschereau, senior manager of emergency response with the Red Cross, said he is not aware of a food shortage at the evacuation centre in Cold Lake.<\/p>\n

He said volunteers are working to help replace vital items that evacuees may have left behind.<\/p>\n

“If our volunteers in the shelter become aware of such a situation, they will then refer to public health and then we’ll have a volunteer go and pick up either medication or a wheelchair or for example, baby formula or diapers,” Taschereau said.<\/p>\n

The Red Cross is not accepting direct donations, saying the space and manpower required to take them would pull resources away from more urgent needs.<\/p>\n

Instead, the group tells people to contact organizations such as the Salvation Army.<\/p>\n

“Lots of these evacuees don’t necessarily want to be in the parking lot having a quiet moment, and be challenged by somebody with a garbage bag full of clothes,” said Karri Kempf with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services.<\/p>\n

“It’s really intimidating for people. They’re not used to the crowds, they’re not used to the huge centres.”<\/p>\n

But Jennifer and Mable Isbister said while many are lacking towels or clothing, such help would be welcome.<\/p>\n

“Why should they reject the donations that are being offered to the people that need them?” Jennifer asked.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Regina, people collecting donations for wildfire evacuees at a hotel are being told by Social Services to stop and take everything to Salvation Army instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLD LAKE, Alberta — Some people who had to flee their homes due to a fast-approaching forest fire in northern …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":10760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","mauthors-kurtis-doering","mauthors-the-canadian-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}