JOYCE BEDDOW-BUCKLAND and PHYLLIS RAINEY became angels of Ashcroft after the July 2017 wildfires tore through their community and went on to quickly destroy a 49-home seniors trailer park in nearby Boston Flats, displacing 72 residents.
“We felt lucky to have been spared, and then we felt helpless and wanted to do something to help those around us who had lost everything,” says Phyllis, a retired RN, who had worked for more than 30 years with Joyce, a long-term health care worker, at the Ashcroft Hospital. Joyce adds, “In our work, you get to know everyone in the community.”
At first, the two thought it was all about getting and disseminating financial support, which was magnanimously forthcoming.
“The BC Country Music Association, the Red Cross and the United Way were all very generous donors,” says Joyce. “So were private individuals. But evacuees initially needed so much more: acknowledgment that others cared; access to computers; connection to all kinds of agencies; navigating paperwork; and just so many daily things.”
By September, all the residents who were displaced by the Boston Flats fire and still remaining in Ashcroft had comfortable places to live for the winter. The many donated household goods, including furniture, were stored for future dissemination.
Phyllis admitted she didn’t realize how tired they were until their volunteer work temporarily “stopped” at a celebratory December luncheon.
She, Joyce and the team that comprises the Boston Flats Trailer Park Fire Aid committee are taking a well-deserved break until their final work resumes in the spring.
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BARBARA HENDRICKS retired to her birthplace and family home at Loon Lake in 2006, after a 20-year stint designing children’s playgrounds in Denmark.
Last July, Barbara, with close to 1,000 others who either permanently lived in or were vacationing around Loon Lake, suddenly faced wildfire evacuation from their homes.
Six weeks later, she returned to her house but not her “home,” she says, referring to the four hectares of land surrounding her house that were burned to the ground, and which included many of the region’s majestic Ponderosa Pines.
Two seasons later, Barbara, a trained landscape architect says, “It hurts to see how badly injured the land is.”
With the average age of permanent residents and nearby ranchers at retirement age and beyond, Barbara is concerned some residents feel they are simply too old to start again. “But,” she says, “it’s the love for the landscape that brings and keeps people here. I will do my very best to nurture nature and wildlife to come back.”
While she waits for the earth to warm up and regenerate life, she is keeping an eye on which birds and wildlife are already returning.
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Truly angels of our community. So privileged to know them and their selflessness on the job and in the hour of need.
Thank you for everything that you do.