Spurred on by personal connections at her workplace, Deanna Zutz of Windsor Plywood is helping to organize a relief effort for people displaced by the wildfire that swept Slave Lake, Alta.
Zutz organized a Facebook event site -- "Donations for the town of Slave lake, AB DROP OFF SITE IN PG" -- that registered 2,000 referral by Tuesday afternoon.
"It's snowballing," said Zutz, who noted one of the workers at Windsor Plywood has family in Slave Lake.
During the weekend, winds gusting up to 100 kilometres an hour pushed wildfire into the Alberta community, destroying nearly one third of the town of 7,000, including the municipal building, library and many homes.
Thousands of people had to flee their homes.
Residents who fled are staying with friends or family or at one of three evacuation centres, including one in Athabasca, southeast of the burned-out community of Slave Lake, but also as far south as Edmonton.
Colin Lloyd of Alberta Emergency Services said 95 per cent of the town's population has moved out, but some citizens have refused to leave.
On her Facebook site, Zutz has listed immediate need items such as bottled water, baby supplies, women's, men's and baby clothing, wipes and diapers.
People can drop off items at Windsor Plywood at 3670 Opie Crescent.
By Tuesday afternoon, approximately one pick-up truckload of donations had been dropped off, said Zutz.
She has also been directing people to Bandstra Transport in Prince George at 9499 Milwaukee Way, which has agreed to be a drop-off site for the Slave Lake relief effort.
As an agent for the Alberta trucking firm Grimshaw, Bandstra has become part of the effort, said the company's acting manager Steve Smith.
"We're happy to help out," said Smith.
He stressed, however, that they are only accepting items that are immediately needed.
They are not accepting large items like furniture.
Smith also stressed the donated items must be packaged and ready for shipments and labelled for the relief effort.
The Red Cross is also accepting donations for the Slave Lake relief effort, but only financial contributions.
Red Cross regional representative Becky Row said they only accept money for disasters whether it's domestic or international disasters because it's much less expensive to move money, and the cash can be used to purchase exactly what is needed at the time.
However, she wasn't discouraging people from donating items to relief efforts. In the case of Slave Lake, there's vast need, she said.
