Impromptu barbecue organized by local MLA Leela Aheer and her husband
When Malkeet Aheer answered a phone call from his wife on May 3, he was not prepared for the news that she had for him.
In tears, Leela Aheer, the Wildrose MLA for Chestermere-Rocky View, explained that her colleague Brian Jean (MLA for Fort McMurray-Conklin and leader of the Wildrose) had to rush home from the legislature to check on his home and gather belongings.
Portions of Fort McMurray were in flames, the entire city at risk while nearly 90,000 raced to safety as the province, and the nation, looked on.
Malkeet Aheer, who, along with his wife, and his sister Parveen, had lost his home in a fire in 2004, immediately felt compelled to pitch in with relief efforts.
However, with no personnel allowed within city limits who were not a part of the official evacuation or fire crews, Leela knew they would have to find another way to help.
Ultimately, the pair decided on hosting a fundraiser in Chestermere on May 13. Malkeet called around to friends and local business owners, and before long, volunteers were signing up in droves.
“I reached out to my sister, and to these men who I consider brothers, and said, ‘How do I do this?’ I didn’t say I need your help, but they stepped up and they said, ‘Malkeet, if you didn’t ask us, we would be offended.’”
Malkeet says that kind of community fellowship is precisely what Chestermere is all about.
“What we were able to pull off on Friday, on such short notice, once again reassured me of why I live here,” he said.
Attendees paid $10 per individual ticket, or $25 for families, and were treated to barbecued grub and live music courtesy of local artists. None of the participating vendors were paid for their time, nor did they charge for their services, but donations were encouraged by all, as noted by the Red Cross bins beside every booth.
By the end of the night at the Chestermere Recreation Centre, the event raised nearly $26,000.
Emilie Young, a member of YELL (Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning) who volunteered at the event, and has family staying in Edmonton after the wildfires destroyed their home, was ecstatic by the effort shown by her fellow Chestermere residents.
Young, who has lived in Chestermere all her life, says this sort of effort is not unexpected from residents. Despite its growing population, Chestermere has retained the smalltown, community feel it became popular for. Everyone knows everyone, and when tragedy strikes, everyone is there to lend a hand.
“We’ve always felt like the place, and the province, that when something like this happens, we jump in and the question is always ‘Well, what do you need? Do you need water? Food? Shelter?’
“Even when the floods happened, first the ones in Calgary, and then the ones in Chestermere just last year, we’re the community that says, ‘Okay, let’s forget about everything else, what do you need help with?’”
The event raised $25,500, which will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross and matched dollar for dollar by both the provincial and federal governments, bringing the final total for this relief effort to more than $75,000. Though those dollars are helpful, Malkeet Aheer says that, above all, what is important is the message it sends to the citizens of Fort McMurray.
“I just wanted [the Fort McMurray evacuees] to know, even though we can’t stop their suffering, we can hold them on their feet while they are suffering — we can hold them so they don’t fall down.”