Posted on Jul 12, 2017
To the many of you who have been wanting to offer help for the victims of the wildfires currently burning in the Cariboo region of the Province, thank you for your care and concern. It is our intent to have a District wide coordinated response available to Rotarians throughout BC and Alberta.
 
This is an ongoing and developing situation, so the ultimate needs are yet to be determined. Our recommendations to Rotary Clubs and Rotarians is as follows:
 
  1. If you wish to support the immediate response and relief needs, then the best route to do that is through the established charities already at work such as The Red Cross or Disaster Aide Canada. These charities have the resources on the ground now and are at work as the situation continues. They are also Canada Revenue Agency registered organizations able to issue charitable tax receipts for donations.
  2. It is the District's intent to set up a special and separate fund for contributions to help with recovery once the needs are known and identified. This fund will be centrally administered and held as a special Rotary account until the local Rotary clubs in the affected areas can assess recovery and possible rebuilding needs in their communities. These funds would then be made available to the local Rotary clubs for appropriate projects in their communities.
We will provide further updates as we get things set up.

Thank you for all your concerns and efforts; we all hope that this situation will be resolved as soon as possible. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to all those affected by the fires.
 
Don Evans
Governor District 5040