With a heatwave radiating throughout the region, shelters and facilities in Grande Prairie are reaching out for donations to help cool down the city’s most vulnerable.
Grande Prairie Rotary House Program Coordinator Sue Butler says they are gearing up to help cool down more residents with historically high temperatures to continue in the next few days. She adds they are looking for a variety of items such as water and freezies.
“Our doors are open so they can come in and cool down. We have water and stuff for them,” she says.
“We’ve had a lot of donations of water and a few boxes of freezies and we’re putting on our sprinkler system, we found that really worked.”
Butler says one unique donation that has been extremely helpful in cooling residents down was a large umbrella that creates lots of shade outside. Butler adds the house is still looking for more umbrellas to span out an even larger area of shade.
“If anyone was going to donate something, I think the umbrellas are an amazing idea,” she adds.
“What security did was prop them up high enough so that they’re still getting the shade but we can see them, so if anyone is down, we see them right away.”
Other facilities in the region that are looking for donations of water bottles and freezies to help those who cannot escape the heat are the Saint Lawrence Centre, the Friendship Centre, Sunrise House, and the Parkside Inn. Odyssey House is reaching out for donations of fans and the Grande Prairie Public Library is open for anyone looking to find a safe spot to cool down.