Thanks for your gracious reply.
I come at this from two distinct perspectives.
The first is to see what we, as a small village community like Rock
Creek,candoto show our support and solidarity with them.
Realistically our small size means that monetarily we are unlikely to
be able to do much. Even so one can only imagine that whatever we
are able to raise, no matter how small, is likely to be a morale
boosterfor those unfortunate people.
But there's another way of looking at this. In 'doing the right thing'
even in a small way, Anmore can gain respect and credibility for
taking early leadership in the greater community of the TriCities. I'm
pretty sure that Mayor's Richard Stewart and Mike Clay could be
persuaded to lend support at little cost. While not as immediately
vulnerable as Anmore and Belcarra, those cities also have exposure
to the consequences of wildfires.
The concert that Trudy and I attended was a performance by top level
classical musicians from the lower mainland lead by violinist Calvin
Dyck .He is someone with whom we have
had the honour of performing in concert on a number of occasions. He
has a relative who was 'burned out' in the Rock Creek fire. These
musicians have been providing their services at no cost. (It doesn't
have to be classical musicians - any 'entertainment' that will attact
generous donors would b appropriate. I also have contacts in the jazz
and popular music community. Yet another option might be to explore
the possibility of asian entertainers?). Admission to the concert itself
was free, but there was an opportunity to make a tax-detuctible
donation at the intermission.
Among the possibilities I contemplate is free access to either the
Evergreen Theatre or Port Moody Theatre. The cities would be asked
to provide these facilities as their contribution (including staffing
costs). If we assume 300 attendees at a 'minimum donation' of $20,
we raise $6000.00. Abbotsford raised $25,000!
I've had a preliminary discussion also with Alan Wilsonthe
localdirector of Habitat for Humanity. He is very enthusiaticabout
working with us on such a project.
Thesecond perspective is no less important to me. When I say that
Trudy and I fretted about the possibility of wildfire in Anmore during
the summer, I'm perfectly serious. There have been at least two major
fires that occured in the past 100 years that burned large swaths of
the mountainside. The risk of major disaster to Anmoreby fire is far
more imminent than the risk of, say, earthquake. Yet we seem to be
conditioned to take the latter more seriously. This makes no sense.
From talking to them I know that the members of our fire department
are very much aware of the risk; but my sense is that fo the residents
ofAnmore it occupies a lower level of their consciousness.
By engaging Anmore residents in support for those of Rock Creek, it
would be my hope to raise their level of awareness of our own
situation; and thereby to encourage them to become more engaged in
thoughts and actions of risk minimization if not risk prevention. I
would hope that this becomes the beginning of an ongoing dialogue.
Kind regards,
Chris Sedergreen.