Don't Forget About Slave Lake!

"In all the years I've been doing this job, I haven't seen anything with this kind of speed and devastation."
- Len MacCharles, incident commander

"When you first see the devastation, it's a numbing feeling. It's going to take some time to get our community back."
- Slave Lake Mayor Pillay-Kinee

As we hear less and less in the traditional media about the efforts ongoing in Slave Lake, Alberta, I wanted to remind everyone that much help is still needed there. The Canadian Red Cross has committed to the recovery process for the next two years and you can help fund that support for the residents of Slave Lake with a financial donation (some agency's will continue to take material donations as well).

On May 15th 2011 a wildfire, fueled by winds of up to 150km, burned through the northern town of Slave Lake, destroying 40% of the town. 374 homes were destroyed and another 52 were damaged. The province declared a level four emergency – the highest on its scale - and more than 7000 people fled in an immediate evacuation, leaving everything behind. After 10 days some people were allowed to come back, but many still can not.

A month after the fire there is still much work to be done in Slave Lake. The Red Cross is still registering people and last I heard there were 200 families that the town had not yet re-connected with. Thank you for keeping Slave Lake in your thoughts as the recovery process continues.

Maisie's Magical Christmas House

If you're in Edmonton for this holiday season, you should visit Maisie's Magical Christmas House, located at 9619 – 144 Avenue.

The house is named such in honor of the home owner's mother, Maisie Dolynchuk, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 82 years. Maisie loved the Christmas lights so much that she wanted them to be enjoyed by people even after she was gone. The house is her legacy.

There is no charge for people to come and tour the display, but you're asked to bring a non-perishable donation to the Edmonton Food Bank.

A TREE for a Good Cause

Do you need a Christmas Tree? Know someone else who doesn't have their tree yet? Today you can support Edmonton's Food Bank by purchasing an amazing live Christmas tree for the holiday season - for only $10! The trees are being sold at Churchill Square from 6am to 2pm today and volunteers are available to help load the trees into your vehicle for you.

Cash or cheques (made payable to Edmonton's Food Bank) are accepted for on-site purchases. You can also text to donate (keyword TREE to shortcode 30333 and $10 will be added to your phone bill in support of Edmonton's Food Bank) or call 780-425-2133 for VISA or MC transactions over the phone. If you prefer to donate online you can do so at edmontonsfoodbank.com via Canada Helps (VISA or MC).

Remember to bring your skates as well - you will have the opportunity to skate with the Edmonton Oil Kings on the ice at City Hall.

Santa's Anonymous

We had a blast volunteering at the 630CHED Santa's Anonymous Warehouse for the Wrapping Tweetup on Friday evening.

We were "bagging" (there is also shopping/wrapping roles) so the process for us was to pick a tag for a family that shows just the ages and sex of each child in it. Then you go through the bins to select the wrapped gift packages for each child listed on the tag (the gifts are separated by age group and gender), creating a package for the family and putting it all together in a big black plastic bag. I tried to pick packages that were basically the same size so there won't be much room for jealousy on Christmas morning between siblings. This year we decided to create packages for the families that were in our area of Edmonton.


As a parent my favourite part of Christmas is Christmas morning - watching my children coming down the stairs with wide eyed wonder at the surprises that have appeared under the Christmas tree. We always have one of the kids call out the names on each gift and deliver it to each person and then we take turns opening so everyone can watch and enjoy. This ritual has always been enjoyable and wonderful for all, regardless of the amount of gifts present from year to year. I can't imagine Christmas morning without at least something under the tree for the kids so I'm very happy to support and volunteer for Santa's Anonymous. Every kid should have something to unwrap under the tree.


If you'd like to spend a couple of hours doing the same thing the warehouse could always use volunteers. Drop in days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am - 9pm. You can read more about it HERE.

Got Library Fines?

On Saturday, November 27, 2010 the Edmonton Public Library will be hosting an event called Food4Fines where they will waive up to $25 in fines in exchange for a food donation to the Edmonton Food Bank.

All you have to do in order to take advantage of this is bring in a non-perishable food item to the customer service desk at any EPL branch on Nov 27th and in return you can have up to a maximum of $25 excused from your library account late/lost fines.

All that is required is one single food item but the library encourages their customers to bring in multiple food items for the Food4Fines Food Drive. Customers without fines can bring in a donation as well.

If you have any other questions about the Food4Fines day you can check out their FAQ page HERE.

Edmonton's Santas Anonymous

If you are looking for a really cool (and fulfilling) volunteer experience this Christmas season in the Edmonton area then I would like to point you in the direction of one of my favourites - Santa's Anonymous, a local organization that makes it possible for all Edmonton kids to receive something on Christmas morning.

The warehouse is open 9am to 9pm for volunteers (to wrap gifts or receive toy donations) and you don't even need to schedule an actual time as you can drop in on any Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday that you have some free time. 

The volunteer roles at the warehouse are restricted to people 16 years of age and older (due to liability issues). However all ages are able to volunteer on the days that the presents are delivered, which is often touted as a "great event for families to volunteer together" and is "often the most rewarding and eye opening experience for children to be involved in."

If you haven't heard it yet you should LISTEN to Jerry Forbes' "And a Creature was Stirring."  

You can check out the various volunteer roles available HERE to find something that appeals to you. Contact the crew at Santas Anonymous with any questions and download the forms needed to volunteer HERE. Additionally, you can support Santas Anonymous by donating toys for Edmonton area children - a simple act that makes all this possible.

If you would like to apply to receive toys for your children this year you can do so through the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton.

For Just One More Birthday

On Sunday a tweet from Rhiannon MacDonnell brought me to this video and the latest American Cancer Society campaign, More Birthdays. The slogan is "the official sponsor of birthdays." It's a good campaign and if you go to their site you'll see many popular artists are participating.

This campaign especially touches me because in 2004 Duncan and I both lost parents to cancer, each of them dying just days short of their respective birthdays. Of course, there is no good time to say goodbye to a loved one. 

The Canadian Cancer Society also has an amazingly powerful campaign. They tell us that every three minutes another Canadian finds out they have cancer. There's a good chance that none of us will have lives unaffected in some way by this disease. We need to support research and development as we work towards finding a cure.  

And until then, here's to more birthdays. For everyone.