The true meaning of community has been alive and well across the province this past week.
Numerous initiatives have been put into place throughout Saskatchewan to help support wildfire evacuees, including over the weekend in Kindersley, as a clothing drive at the Elks Hall saw overwhelming support.
What was originally set to be a one-day-only donation turned into a two-day drop-off and subsequent pick-up. New and used clothing of all varieties were sorted out for pickup, and toy donations were directed to the West Central Crisis Centre with Executive Director Michelle Weber also frequenting the building.
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Kindersley Municipal Enforcement Officer Trina Koska was put in charge to help streamline the donation efforts.
"We were given direction by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) that they would like it streamlined, rather than having hundreds of people drop-off at locations like hotels."
Koska handled the social media side of things to send donations to the Elks Hall. On site were a group of volunteers dedicated to sorting and displaying, and another driving force behind the clothing drive helping out wherever possible.
"Selena Edmunds did a lot of work in the background. She was the one there most of the time."
Koska was ecstatic to share they received an incredible amount of clothing on short notice. Pickups were then offered for two days following the drive for evacuees to pick up what they needed, and the Koska mentioned leftover donations were sent to the Crisis Centre for future needs.
Inviting Koska into the studio on Wednesday to talk about the drive with everything settled down, the proud Kindersley resident couldn't help but get a little emotional.
"I was floored by the response. It did my heart good." smiled Koska. "There were several times on Saturday at the clothing drop off that I had an emotional response to how Kindersley had stepped up, and how proud I was to be from Kindersley, that this could all come together on short notice."
Enough clothes were donated to fill both rooms at the Elks Hall. Koska was already surprised by the amount, later being left amazed at just how many new items hit the tables.
"It was all very good quality clothing. Lots of new clothes still with tags on it. When we asked for underwear and socks, people just went out and bought them and brought them. Couldn't have asked for better."
The Elks Hall stayed open for donations Sunday as more and more people called in asking if they could help.
"Tried to nail it down to one day so that we had an abundance to start with. But as it went on, and more people found out about it, more people wanted to donate." said Koska. "We didn't want to turn people away. We knew we were going to need re-stocking of some things, so we definitely took donations after that one day."
Fast forward nearly a week and people are slowly leaving their temporary home communities. Efforts to support Saskatchewan people displaced from their homes are continuing province wide on Thursday with the Saskatchewan Day of Caring radiothon, and you can do your part by texting RADIO to 45678 to make a $10 donation, or by visiting the Canadian Red Cross donation page HERE.