Coming Together During Our Worst Disaster

This year, B.C. faced one of the most devastating natural disasters in our history. Communities in the Fraser Valley were devastated by floods that submerged farmlands, killed livestock in the thousands, washed away bridges, destroyed highways, and sadly claimed the lives of family members. The flood is the most costly disaster we have ever experienced in the province and it will take months and years to rebuild and recover.

With the devastation also came great bravery and solidarity as British Columbians responded with great heart. At The Salvation Army, our Emergency Disaster Services personnel and several of our Ministry Units went into immediate response mode. Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Maple Ridge, Langley, Kamloops, Kelowna, and several other TSA locations jumped in from day one, providing food and hydration to first responders and evacuees. We set up our incident command centre in Abbotsford, deployed our EDS vehicles to the hardest-hit areas, set up feeding centres, and worked side-by-side with Emergency Management B.C. to help communities in dire need.

Across the province and country, donors also responded and in only a couple of days, we raised over $1 million, which was sent immediately to several Ministry Units on the front line to support the hardest-hit communities. To date, we’ve raised over $1.8 million, which will continue to go to those communities to help immediate and long-term recovery. We are working closely with municipal leaders, including those in the Indigenous communities to ensure the funds are getting to the most critical areas.

Our PR team is working on a fulfillment report that will be available in late March. It will include a written summation and a short video. The report will highlight our response and relief work, and it will include stories from the field and testimonials from those people who we helped through the devastation.