Beardy’s & Okemasis First Nation takes in evacuees – already at capacity

“We just figured ‘what can we do?’ We’ve always been a community that always pulls together in times of need and there was a lot of centers already at capacity and people were looking for places to stay and we thought ‘what can we do’.”

So the community opened up the Willow Cree Sports Center for the evacuees to stay. The communities two schools are under renovation otherwise Seesequasis said they would have been using those locations as well.

“There was definitely a need out there and because we were close to Prince Albert and people were being sent to Regina and Cold Lake, a lot of people just wanted to be closer to others, their families and closer to home,” Seesequasis said.

She said it’s been incredible to see the community come together and donate so much to the evacuees.

“The donations have been unreal. We’ve actually had to put a stop to the clothing donations and food because we don’t want any more then we can handle and we don’t want to be wasteful.”

Seesequasis said they are taking names and numbers of those still wanting to donate so if they do need anything they can give those people a call. She said she has also been forwarding donation calls to centers that may need some extra supplies.

There were two little power outages at the arena over the last couple of days due to the weather. “[They] happened right at bedtime so that was a little blessing in disguise,” she said laughing.

“We had tons of lightening and the power went out [both nights].”

She said they had some people come into the arena to help with security during the power outages to help people get around.

“[The evacuees] are so grateful, asking how they can help and always wanting to participate with general clean up, food services, they want to stay busy too. We’re providing activities as much as we can do.”

Some of the evacuees have even been helping sort through the donations.

Seesequasis sends out a big thank you to everyone who has helped out during this time.

“It’s good to know there are so many people out there willing to give.”

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid

by Sarah Wallace

Beardy’s & Okemasis First Nation takes in evacuees – already at capacity

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