First and foremost....HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!! I love my country, I really love being a Canadian. Not only is it absolutely beautiful, multicultural, and full of history, but it is also full of some truly beautiful and amazing people. I'm talking beauty on the inside! I live in Calgary, Alberta, and if you have seen the news within the past week, you would have seen the devastating, state of emergency flooding we experienced. Not just in Calgary, but throughout cities and towns in Alberta. Calgary unfortunately was one of the cities that were hit pretty hard. To be specific, the communities closer to our main rivers, and our entire downtown core. Being a born and raised Calgarian, it was really hard to see my city under water, landmark areas destroyed, and all these people lose their homes and possessions in the flood. But........in this state of emergency when disaster struck, a lot of our proud citizens all came together to clean-up and rebuild........and that was exactly what I did this long weekend.
Volunteers everywhere, all unsure of what to expect but we came as best prepared as possible with rain boots, dust masks, gloves, and tools, ready to take on whatever missions we were given. There was a volunteer station set up for everyone, with a coordinator glued to a cell phone answering incoming texts and phone calls from desperate evacuees and residents in need of flood relief assistance. Also 4 big tables loaded with food, safety and first aid supplies, and also nourishment for the volunteers to keep going strong.
I still cannot believe just how many volunteers there were helping out, going door to door in these communities. It was just incredible! Our first mission was to deliver food and water to some homes that had residents in them who hadn't eaten in days. We were teamed up with this woman who had driven down from Edmonton in her mini van, to devote an entire week to helping out Calgary. She had her van all decorated up with sweet hand written messages, colorfully scribbled everywhere. These messages/words of encouragement to Calgary were done by students and teachers of an Edmonton middle school. The craziest, most amazing thing about this situation is that the woman didn't even know a single person here in Calgary! She just hopped in her van, drove 3 hours to Calgary, and found a family to rent a room from for the week during her stay. Now if that doesn't warm your heart, then I'm convinced you're just made of stone.
Trekking along in our muddy boots, we came across another home in need. We helped this woman wash down some of her belongings, and bleach spray the walls and wood for bacteria prevention. As I was cleaning her things, she came up to me with this ancient sewing machine, and had big sad eyes. "Do you think I can keep this and we can get it to work? I've had this sewing machine for 40 years!" she exclaimed. So together we tried to dump out some of the water, dry some things up, and plug it in....but it didnt work, and she was upset. This lady told me about how she cries everyday for a good hour since this flood, and how she lost so many irreplaceable things. I was compassionate to her stories, and then continued with the flood clean-up. Then what does she do twenty minutes later after we're all done? She insists on mixing us up some gin and tonics and sitting down amongst the mess to have a drink with her before we leave. She took pictures of us, and asked for our contact info as she told us how she wants to have a 'fantasy party' with all her volunteers one day after this disaster is all said and done. We had good conversation, and thats afternoon, while we were sipping our gin and tonics with her and the sun was shining I realized that this is also what the people need here - some normalcy, companionship, and assurance that with every dark storm comes sunshine. She had a lot of hope in her eyes, and she smiled the entire time. There was also another memorable house where we had to scoop, rake and dig out all the debris and silt on this homeowner's lawn. Seems pretty straight forward and basic, right? Well, with every single stroke of that rake, or break of that shovel, I was finding bits and pieces of people's lives, and it was so heart breaking. A photo here, someone's knit scarf there, childrens toys, and pieces of furniture and possessions. I definitely had to take a few deep breaths to regroup. And it wasn't just the material things. It was seeing all the beautiful trees and plant life ripped down, broken, and splayed out everywhere. Just destroyed. I never realized just how strong water could be. To even imagine a tsunami? Well..... I don't even want to.
This weekend was an incredible experience for me. I wanted to spend my long weekend volunteering my time to my city, and I am so glad I did. More importantly, I'm so glad that so many people did. I mean, the amount of volunteers doing any and everything they were sent to do just blows my mind. It is truly amazing how an unfortunate event like this can bring so many people together, and reflect such spirit. It's also amazing to me that despite all the negative impact of this flood, despite all the trouble and stress these people are going through, despite all the damage, loss and absolute messes everywhere, that each and every single person whether they were a volunteer, a city worker/contractor, or a flood victim.....they all were smiling, in good spirits, and everyone was working together like this huge family. Strangers thanking strangers with hugs, strangers asking strangers to help them put a Band-Aid on, and strangers making food for strangers. Life is beautiful! If I could take only one thing from that whole experience, it would be that the word "stranger" doesn't really exist at all to me because at the end of the day we're all one big family. One love.
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