A house fire in Radville displaced the family of Colby and Tanya Henheffer last Sunday night. Since then, their friend and Radville local, Kelly-Ann Joubert, has been collecting funds to support them as they recover from the tragedy.
“We got the call on Sunday night that their house was burning, obviously we rushed down there. We've always had a really good relationship with them, and it just inspired me obviously to help them because I know if I was in that situation they would really do the same for me.”
Joubert initially was inspired to start a GoFundMe, but after speaking to the Henheffer’s daughter, Alyssa, decided to use e-transfer instead so funds could be more readily accessed by the family.
“Now they're staying in the hotel and having to buy food so it's just very overwhelming for them. I just posted a photo with all the details on so that people could send them e-transfers just to help. I know the financial stress the moment after losing everything, that's the first thing that you think about.”
Support has also come in other forms, the Weyburn Pet Valu has a basket collecting funds to pay vet bills after the family’s elderly dog was injured in the fire.
“Tanya ran back into the house to go and get the dog, she's really old. Her daughter took the dog to the vet and she had to go into oxygen cage because she did have some smoke inhalation.”
Another woman in town opened an account at the local bank to accept donations, the second-hand store is also helping to collect funds.
Efforts also include a search for a home for the family. Joubert says finding an available house in the small community of Radville is no simple task.
“Radville is really small so we're struggling to find a place to rent at the moment because there's no places in Radville to rent. Not even in the one block apartments that they do have here so that's another struggle that we're facing.”
It is important to the family to remain in Radville, their current accommodation in the city will only last until the end of the month.
Joubert highlights the importance of community to her, explaining her desire to help the family in need.
“Us coming from South Africa we never had that close community and we really want to help as far as we can in the community getting involved with helping people because that's important. We live in a cruel world and just a little bit of help from anybody could make your day better, take a little bit of stress off of you and just help you.”
Direct e-Transfers can be made to email addresses henhef83@yahoo.ca and tanyahenheffer@yahoo.com.