Help feed High River success

Times Reporter 

 

When the floodwaters first hit in late June many people were in shock and awe at the amount of damage caused. Many people and organizations jumped to action, trying to find ways to help those affected. Here in Strathmore Councillor Rocky Blokland partnered with Koreann Bland to figure out how they too could help. 

That was when the idea of ‘Help Feed High River’ was born. The original idea was to load up a truck with beef on a bun and take it down to feed as many people as possible. 

Blokland said with the help of local catering companies they did eventually take the residents beef on a bun and they were there for a day or two.  

“We cooked approximately 700 pounds of roast beef,” said Blokland. 

Donations began pouring in as people heard about the initiative and in the end $11,292.35 was collected. 

“We realized we could do some more. Word came from High River that they could use some mattresses so $2,500 out of the donations was used to purchase the mattresses,” said Blokland. 

Approximately $3,000 went towards the beef on a bun and the balance of $5,798.19 was just taken to the High River Food Bank by Blokland. 

The amount of the support from Strathmore wasn’t a surprise to Blokland. 

“It was overwhelming when we started, but really I’m not surprised, this is what Strathmore does, Strathmore pulls through when we have to, as did a lot of other communities.” 

Blokland said things look better there now than they did in the summer but it’s still a tough situation. 

“Dire. If you go to High River it looks 180 per cent better than it did back the first of July. There’s a lot of people in need now and with winter settling in I can only imagine what’s going to happen there this winter,” said Blokland. 

“A special thank you to Koreann and her group of people, thank you to all donators, thank you Strathmore and Wheatland County. As usual it was a job well done.”