WILDFIRE Disaster in Fort McMurray - Donations for Relief Efforts

As you may aware the continuing disaster forced Alberta to call a state of emergency on Wednesday after more than 88,000 people were forced out of their homes in and around Fort McMurray, sending evacuees to surrounding communities for shelter. The wildfire has torn through 100 square kilometres and destroyed 1,600 homes and buildings as of Thursday of this week. See below photos to get an understanding of the damages.

The Canadian Government and the Provincial Government of Alberta announced that they will match individual donations made to the Canadian Red Cross to help those affected by the raging wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., as all organizations across the country is coming forward to support for Albertans who are affected from this natural disaster.

As a non-profit organization, it is our duty to help the affected people in whatever way, whether small or large, for them to recover from these kind of natural disasters as we have done in the past. Therefore, we have decided that it is prudent to collect donations from our community and hand over the collection to the Canadian Red Cross so that Federal & Alberta governments will match our donation amount. Even if we can send $500 it is worthwhile doing it. All monies will be handed over on the name of BVS. A tax receipt will be issued for all donations exceeding $20.

We will be collecting donations until May 15, 2016. Please hand over your donation to Chaminda Wijemanne, Treasurer of BVS on or before May 15, 2016. Also, if you wish, you can donate through the BVS website. Please share this with your friends, family and colleagues. Any help at all will greatly benefit this noble cause.