Donations from customers and staff of B.C. Liquor Stores on the West Shore, along with those from around the province, helped provide residents forced from their homes by raging wildfires with some comfort in a time of need.
Donations received here and at stores elsewhere in B.C. supported Canadian Red Cross relief efforts for victims of the recent Rock Creek and Oliver wildfires in the south Okanagan to the tune of almost $102,000.
To help support residents of those communities who were forced to start from nothing after their homes were destroyed by fire, customers made donations of $2 or $5 – or multiples thereof – at checkouts at 196 B.C. Liquor Stores throughout the province.
These donations, collected from Aug. 18 to Sept. 6, helped the Red Cross provide assistance to victims of the fires to reunite family members, provide necessities such as blankets, food and water and assist victims with longer-term needs such as replacing equipment to return to work and helping with rent.
B.C. Liquor Stores’ customers and staff have aided Red Cross disaster relief for humanitarian crises at home and abroad since 2003, when stores first collected donations to support victims affected by wildfires burning that summer in the province.