JASPER – The Caring Collective, a group of five Innisfail churches, has provided a hefty donation to help Jasper recover from last summer’s wildfire.
Caring Collective chair Susan Roy and her husband Derek came to Jasper on Thursday (May 8) to present $1,672.85 to the food bank and $1,635 to the Jasper Community Team Society’s Child and Youth Participation Fund – a total of $3,307.85.
They also dropped off $5,000 worth of food and other goods donated by No Frills in Innisfail and other individuals from the area, as well as 83 quilts, Afghans, blankets and prayer shawls, each one individually wrapped and with a special prayer inside for the people of Jasper.
“We just hope that we’ve made a difference in the healing of the people of Jasper, and we know that it doesn’t happen overnight,” Roy said. “It takes time to recover from a disaster of that magnitude, and so we hope we’ve done at least a small part in helping that effort.”
Formed last fall, the Caring Collective consists of the Innisfail United Church, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, Peace Lutheran Church, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and St. Mark’s Anglican Church.
Roy noted the goal of their group was to make a difference in their community and the world, and given how recent and close to home the Jasper wildfire had been, they decided this would be their first initiative.
To fundraise, they held a pancake breakfast and a 50/50 draw in addition to receiving cash donations. No Frills, Central Alberta Co-op and various individuals donated food for the pancake breakfast.
“I was thrilled with how our community responded,” Roy said. “They were thrilled to help out the people of Jasper.”
Roy noted this donation would help address the high demand that the Jasper Food Bank was continuing to see post-fire.
“It was really a community effort between sponsors that helped us out, the two grocery stores here in town and then volunteers from the five different churches,” she said.
The Caring Collective committee will meet soon to decide on what cause to fundraise for next.
