London businesses and organizations are stepping up to help evacuees of fire-ravaged Fort McMurray.
Shelby's Food Express, a Middle Eastern restaurant at 223 Horton St., will be donating 5% of this month's profits to the Red Cross' emergency Alberta Fires Appeal.
Co-owners Yazan El-Shalabi and Yasser Ali made the decision to give after the more than 80,000 residents of the oilsands city were forced to flee as wildfire spread through the community.
"5% won't hurt. I don't want to make that much profit this month, I want to support these poor people," says El-Shalabi. "That 5% could mean a lot to the people of Fort McMurray."
When El-Shalabi arrived at the restaurant on Friday, a big order had been placed through the online ordering system. He says the order included a message thanking the restaurant for supporting Fort McMurray.
El-Shalabi is now trying to round up other local businesses to contribute to the relief efforts.
"We need to support each other when something like this happens," says El-Shalabi. "If there's ten businesses that raise $300 each, that's $3,000. That's better than nothing, it can help a family."
The London Knights collected donations from fans at Thursday night's playoff game at Budweiser Gardens. Fans were eager to give, raising $5,372.90.
Labatt Breweries sprang into action immediately, halting beer production to instead fill cans with emergency drinking water from London. The first 69,000 cans were shipped from the Alberta distribution centres Wednesday. They were expected to arrive at the Edmonton emergency centre the same day.
"The people of Labatt are alarmed and deeply concerned by the devastation of the wildfire that has overtaken Fort McMurray," says Labatt vice-president Charlie Angelakos. "Our priority is to shift into high gear with our Disaster Relief Program and do everything we can to help."
More than 131,000 additional cans have been filled with water and are ready to be shipped if needed.
This is the fourth time the brewery, founded in London, has enacted its Disaster Relief Program. The first time was in 2013 after Alberta declared a state of emergency due to severe flooding.
The Salvation Army's Perron Goodyear hopped on a plane from the London International Airport destined for Edmonton on Friday morning. He will be assisting with the local Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster efforts.
The Salvation Army has been providing hydration and nutrition to evacuees and first responders. The public can make monetary donations toward its efforts at SalvationArmy.ca/albertafires or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY. Donations of $10.00 can also be made by texting FORTMAC to 45678.
The Canadian Red Cross is also accepting donations through its website www.redcross.ca. Donations of $5.00 can be made by texting REDCROSS to 30333.
The federal government will match all individual donations made to the Canadian Red Cross's Fort McMurray relief effort.
