May 14 Fundraising for Fort McMurray A Great Success

WCCA

Thirty six hundred kilometers, 7 hours of flight or 34 hours driving …that’s the distance between Fort McMurray, Alberta and Waterloo, Ontario. However the hearts of the people have never been closer to each other.

When an unthinkable wildfire stroke and swept the community of Fort McMurray on May 1, more than 2,900 homes and buildings were destroyed in just less than a week, triggering the largest wildfire evacuation of over 90,000 devastated local residents in Alberta’s history.

With no time for hesitation, Waterloo Region Chinese Community Association (WCCA) knows it’s time to help. On May 14, with the quick response and hard work from over a hundred tireless volunteers and a number of WCCA’s sponsors, a charity event “Fundraising for Fort McMurray” unfold to raise fund andawareness for the people affected in Fort McMurray and surrounding area.

The Mother Nature was not cooperating at her fullest. Strong wind, cold rain and there were no better words to describe this would-be beautiful Saturday in mid-May. “Our Fort McMurray friends would need this rain” said the Minister of Small Business and Tourism the Hor. Ms. Bardish Chagger commenting on the wet weather at the event. She was one of the dignitaries who graciously attended the fundraising and congratulated WCCA for putting together the event.

Despite the strong and cold wind, booths for food tasting, charity items, cultural display, cash donation, silent auctions and a beach volleyball court had all been set up by the tireless volunteers as planned. A fire engine sent by Waterloo Fire Rescue department in Northfield Division also arrived to show support. The arts programs have been contributed by the performers across the region, such as WCCA women club, senior club, Waterloo Region Classics Reciting Club, choir, Taichi club, local arts school, music academies, UW limelight dance group, Chinese Classics Reciting from WRCRC. From youngsters of 7 to seniors over 75, people across age groups poured out their hearts for the people hit by the disaster. By 3 o’clock in the afternoon, a total of 700 people attended this fundraising event.

A total number of $20,959.30 CAD has been raised from this event including those from food and item sale, cash contribution and from silent auction on paintings donated by Confucius Institute. Other local communities from Taiwan Association, the Confucius Institute at the University of Waterloo, and Waterloo region Chinese business association and two local Chinese schools all pitched in in various ways to help out their fellow Canadians in Fort McMurray.

As Mr. Pan Gang the president of WCCA pointed out, many our members are now Canadian citizens. We all witnessed Canadians offering generous help to an earthquake in Sichuan China in 2008. Now it’s our turn to help our fellow Canadians.

The “Fundraising for Fort McMurray” event had also drawn attentions from medias such as Canada National TV, CTV and 570NEWS etc. Lots coverage about the event was seen on televisions, on Twitter, Web, WeChat and other social media.

Federal minister Hor. Ms. Bardish Chagger, Waterloo Mayor Mr. Dave Jaworsky, Kitchener Mayor Mr. Berry Vrbanovic, Federal MP Raj Saini, Marwan Tabbara, Waterloo city councillor Mr. Mark Whaley and Mr. Dave Chen from Waterloo Region Police Service all showed up to offer their support at this event.

Every dollar of the proceeds from the “Fundraising for Fort McMurray” has been handed over to Canadian Red Cross to support Fort McMurray victims. Go Fort McMurray, together we stand!

About WCCA

Waterloo Region Chinese Community Association (WCCA) has over 3,000 members as of 2016. It is the largest Chinese Canadian organization in the Waterloo area with deep root in the community. It has successfully held many fundraisers in the past including Food Drive for Food Bank, Haiti earthquake relief fundraising, Wenchuan earthquake fundraising, and many other community events to enrich the life of our members and the community at large. For more information please visit http://waterloocca.com or follow us on Twitter @WaterlooCCA.

Fundraising Committee

Waterloo Region Chinese Community Association