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Collaboration Helps Alberta Flood Survivors

May 13, 2020
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Fort McMurray, Alta., has been devastated by floods just a few years after horrific wildfires.

Miguel Borges (http://merino.com/YouTube)

“Back in January I attended a meeting in the CRCNA offices, and what we kept hearing was that there was a whole network of people and resources available to support local churches,” said Rev. Josh Friend, pastor at Evergreen Community Christian Reformed Church in Fort McMurray, Alta. “Now I’m really experiencing that support and learning how valuable it is.”

Friend pastors a small congregation in a remote town in northern Alberta. In 2016 the town was ravaged by wildfires that forced 88,000 people from their homes and caused millions of dollars in damages. In the last week of April that same town was hit by disaster again as flooding from ice jams in three local rivers covered large swaths of the downtown area and caused the evacuation of over 13,000 residents.

“I know people who had only just moved back into homes that they had rebuilt after the fires — and now they have lost their homes again,” said Friend.

But those residents and Evergreen Community Church are not on their own. Friend says he’s been overwhelmed by the support people have received from others.

“My phone has been pretty much glued to my face for the past two weeks,” said Friend. “I get twenty or thirty calls a day from people or organizations who have needs, but also from people and organizations wanting to help.”

Friend said that this has had a huge impact on him.

“In a remote community like Fort McMurray you can feel really separated and isolated. All of these offers of support have helped us feel connected to a broader community.”

Groups offering support in addition to relief efforts by the provincial government include World Renew, Diaconal Ministries Canada, the Northern Alberta Diaconal Conference (NADC) of the Christian Reformed Church, and several Edmonton, Alta., congregations.

“World Renew has been in contact with churches and other disaster response organizations in Fort McMurray,” said Bob Laarman, director of Disaster Response Services for World Renew. He pointed out that COVID-19 has added additional complications to this tragedy. “Our traditional response of sending volunteers is hampered by travel restrictions.”

For now, World Renew and Diaconal Ministries Canada have provided help in the form of financial assistance. Christian Reformed folks closer to Fort McMurray have been able to do even more.

“This time is a great opportunity for the Evergreen church to support the community of Fort McMurray, and we would like to help them do that,” said Jesse Edgington, consultant for the NADC.

The NADC is funded by all of the congregations of Classis Alberta North and is designed to encourage deacons in their work, provide them with training, and find ways for them to work together.

“Taking a collection and sending money is great and will help in the months ahead, but right now the people of Fort McMurray are in need of supplies. Many of the stores that would have been stocking things were affected, and the city will be under a boiled water protocol for likely the whole summer,” Edgington wrote in an email to CRC congregations in the region.

He provided a specific list of supplies that are needed and agreed to coordinate their collection and delivery in the coming week.

In the meantime, some individuals in congregations in Edmonton (about 435 km or 270 miles away) have already made a delivery.

“Some folks from West End CRC here in Edmonton have already been quick and responsive. Under their own initiative, they have already taken a load of their own up to Fort McMurray,” said Edgington.

Friend added that he heard of several Alberta women who asked their children not to give them gifts for Mother’s Day so that they could make a donation to help Fort McMurray instead.

In addition to these supplies, Friend said that the community of Fort McMurray is in desperate need of volunteers. Local organizations can use up to 60 people per day to help clear out flood-damaged homes and other debris. Unfortunately, due to the town’s remote location and a lack of available housing or hotels for out-of-town volunteers, they usually only get 15 or so people to help out.

Yet those 15 people and the many others who have been sending supplies, funding, and prayer support have made a huge impact on Friend and on the congregation he serves. While the church has been meeting for decades, it became an organized congregation in the Christian Reformed Church in North America only a few years ago.

“We’re still figuring out where we fit in this denomination,” Friend said. “Hearing about churches and individuals who are taking offerings, donating goods, and volunteering just helps us feel connected to the broader community.”