A Melfort family of five that lost their home to a fire on Dec. 21 has received a boost from local residents.
After the fire happened so close to Christmas the community rallied around the family.
Sheri Meston, a charter member of the Melfort Lions Club and general manager of the Canalta Hotel in Melfort, was one of those people.
She said the mother, Ashlynn Rogers, who along with her husband Brandon March and their three children lost their home, used to work for her at Canalta.
A friend of Rogers’ also used to work for her and told her about the fire the next day.
“I said, okay, we have got to do something,” Meston explained. “I’m a good idea person. I’m not a good doer person.”
Meston went to Lions Club President Lorana McComber with the idea to use the Canalta as a drop off spot for donations.
“It’s a common place,” Meston explained. “Everybody knows the Canalta in Melfort so everybody will know where to find it. Everybody can donate whatever they want, whether it be cash, whether it be clothes or bedding or toys or diapers or gift cards, whatever it may be. Let’s be the place to collect it. It’s one safe place and then I can deliver it all to Ashlynn and Brandon.”
Once the idea of a donation spot at the Canalta spread, donations began pouring in from the people of Melfort.
“I thought I would just put one of our laundry bins right up at the front thinking, ‘oh, we’ll get a few things. We’ll just put them in here and then I can take them, put them in my car and take them over to Ashlynn,’” Meston said. “No, that bin was overflowing and it overflowed a couple of different times. People with diapers, with gift cards, with cash.”
She said one person donated over $2,000 in cash alone.
“It was just amazing. I don’t have a total figure; cash and gift cards was probably about $15,000,” Meston said.
According to the Melfort Fire Department’s Facebook page, Melfort Fire Department crews were dispatched at 11:06 a.m. on Dec. 21 to reports of a structure fire. Upon arrival, firefighters observed flames and heavy smoke coming from two front windows of the residence. Two interior attack teams entered the building and were able to knock down the flames quickly, according to the fire department.
All occupants were able to exit the home safely on their own, and the homeowner was also able to rescue the family dog from its kennel.
Meston said that the timing of the fire was the worst part of the whole event.
“Four days before Christmas, there’s a fire and it takes everything,” Meston said. “They had three iPads in the cupboard that they were holding on to the kids for Christmas two or three iPads, I can’t remember, but Apple is going to replace them.”
Members of the Melfort Fire Department were called to a fire on Dec. 21.
She said the family is currently trying to find a place to rent in Melfort but the rental market is very tight.
“There is just nothing for rent in town. Until insurance gets going and the rebuild process, they need a place to live. They are living in grandma’s two-bedroom house right now. The family of five with grandma.”
She said that there are no apartments or houses to rent but the important part is getting some funds together to get the family started.
“You need damage deposit, you need first month’s rent, you need stuff to live with, insurance will replace the house and the furniture and the beds and all that stuff.
“But they need things for now while they’re in the rental. Like more of the immediate stuff,” Meston said.
The generosity went beyond that, in the morning before the interview someone called Meston and asked what size of clothing the children wear.
“I know Ashlynn has said they’ve had an outpouring with bedding and clothing and diapers and everything, and that way they’re okay. But I still encourage people give what you can Right, Ashlyn, if she can’t use it, she’ll just turn around and donate it to somebody that can,” Meston said.
She said that generosity to the Rogers Family shows the true spirit of the Holiday season. Meston said that people have been thanking her but she was just trying to help out her friend Rogers.
“I’m very proud of her,” Meston said. “She’s just somebody I’ve liked over the years, somebody I’ve known over the years and I just don’t think a family should suffer that way. I don’t want any gratification. I don’t want any ‘thank you’. All I did is provide a place to collect items.”
She said McComber did the footwork to get the message out and people just opened their hearts to the family and the Canalta was just the place to collect.
“I can have a lot of good ideas, but I don’t always know how to make them happen. Lorana is the one that made this happen and Lorena is the one that deserves the kudos for that. She jumped on board right away.” Meston said that the new Lions Club was able to make a donation of a gift card to get essentials from the grocery store. The Melfort Elks and Melfort Masonic Lodge have donated as well.
“There has been just an outpouring from the community and I couldn’t be prouder of where I live. I couldn’t be prouder of the people that have all donated,” Meston said.
Meston said that she had cancer years ago and Melfort was generous then and this is her turn to give back.
“It’s my turn to give back, but I don’t want any gratitude for this whatsoever. None.
Because it wasn’t me. I just happened to have a place,” Meston said.
Meston explained that the family is grateful for every bit of support they have received from the community.
“We went over there with a couple truckloads of stuff from the hotel one day, and Ashlynn stood there and cried. Like she is just, she’s overwhelmed. She could never have expected all of this. Those were her words. ‘I never expected this.’ To support people can donate directly by email at ashlynnmack@icloud.com, and there is also have a fundraiser account set up at RBC Royal Bank branch in Melfort.
Rogers’ mother, Alicia Yaremy, has also launched a GoFundMe campaign to support her daughter’s family, who returned home from a birthday breakfast in Melfort to find their house engulfed in flames.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
