THUNDER BAY - When hearing about the fire in Fort McMurray, Bella Pires and her friends wanted to offer help in the time of crisis.
The group started collecting goods under a Facebook event titled #FortMacStrong.
Within days of the event being created donations began pouring in, the group became stunned by the large response received by the city.
“The response has been amazing,” Pires said.
“People are writing notes on the bags, dropping them off at the drop off sites and making little comments like keep the faith or we are sending you love.
“I’m sitting here reading this stuff and I get goosebumps talking about it. It’s amazing.”
New clothes, bottled water, toiletries, diapers and dog food have been arriving at the drop off sites all week.
Pires said she doesn’t know exactly how much has been donated but she knows donations will fill at least two transport trucks.
“We have one truck right now, Pires said. “With our GoFundMe page, if we need another truck there’s an option to rent a truck and take it down there.”
The GoFundMe page was initially made in hopes of acquiring enough money to pay for gas or rent a truck. With the abundance of offers to borrow trailers, however, the money is being used to purchase items that weren't donated.
Volunteers will spend Monday organizing and boxing the remainder of the donations as transportation will be leaving Thunder Bay Tuesday morning.