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Hey neighbour!
Get ready to celebrate the 19th annual Blueridge Good Neighbour Day.
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Outstanding contribution
MLA Jane Thornthwaite discusses posthumous Volunteer Legacy Award for Tim Jones.
JUNE 2016
9900 Circulation East of the Seymour River
Fire victims reflect on one-year mark by MARIA SPITALE-LEISK The comforting sound of kids playing outside and laughing has returned to River Woods Housing Co-op one year after the fire. Four pre-teen friends run around the central courtyard and engage in some old-fashioned roughhousing on a recent Thursday afternoon. The parents sit around a communal picnic table, shooting the breeze with fellow neighbours, who are more like a second family. Blue construction fencing, in plain view across the complex, cordons off a section of townhouses still under restoration and serves as a reminder of friends who have not come home yet. There’s a child’s scooter nesting in overgrown grass that hasn’t been tended to in a year. It’s evident that River Woods’ residents have each other’s backs. Here, it’s no trouble to knock on a neighbour’s door to ask for something – anything – even if it’s dinner hour. A jovial Aaron Rose, who sports a black Batman T-shirt, says he had a good feeling about River Woods when he first arrived at the co-op three years ago. There were 25 or so kids laughing and running through sprinklers set up on the grass. “I knew it was a good place because there were lots of kids around and everyone seemed happy,” says Rose, while cuddling River Woods’ resident cat, Boo. On the sidewalk nearby, Rose’s daughter, Naomi, 3, is making some chalk drawings. This microcosm of community nestled in a grove of tall coniferous trees next to Mount Seymour Road was torn apart around 8 p.m. last May 7, when a large blaze broke out at River Woods. Co-op president Diane Bennett, who has lived here for close to 20 years, describes feeling a sense of disbelief the night of the fire. “I saw a poof of smoke and all of a sudden the roof just erupted in flames,” recalls Bennett. “There was a huge roar.
We were very scared. There was just the fear it was going to spread.” It was a chaotic scene as thick smoke blanketed the complex and panicked residents ran around worried about neighbours, pets and personal possessions. While 27 firefighters from stations across the North Shore tackled the blaze, which spread rapidly through a shared attic space, other local heroes quickly turned up to help. Teachers from nearby Dorothy Lynas elementary arrived at River Woods with stuffies to help calm children who were hunkered down in units away from the smoke. Rose watched as firefighters sprayed water from a giant hose through the open bedroom window of a fellow resident named Leila, six years old. “Just seeing that was devastating because you knew her stuff was in there,” recalls Rose.
“There was a huge roar. We were very scared.” – resident Diane Bennett Despite losing her favourite picture of flowers and all of her puzzles, Leila donated half of her birthday money to the Seymour-Deep Cove fire hall in October because the firefighters saved her “fishies.” Immediately after the fire, 26 River Woods’ families found themselves homeless. Some residents left with just the clothes on their backs and, if they were lucky, some valuables. Fortunately, the Seymour community jumped into action, donating everything from food to toiletries to gift certificates. “It was absolutely overwhelming,” says Rose, of the generosity of strangers. “I think we had 1,000 (donated) pairs see Residents page 8
Three-year-old Naomi, a River Woods resident, makes chalk drawings in the courtyard of the housing co-op that was ravaged by fire last year. PHOTO MARIA SPITALE-LEISK
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