Displaced family grateful for their community

By Mark Ribble

WHEATLEY — On the afternoon of Thursday, August 26, Jami-Lee Church saw the fire trucks once again at the four corners of Wheatley, so she did what she was supposed to — she packed up the family’s ‘evacuation bag’.

They’d had to use that bag for the previous evacuation in July but were back home in three days.

In the June gas leak, her family’s home was just outside of the evacuation area, so she didn’t expect to have to use it.

That fateful August day, the bag sat on their kitchen counter as she gathered her two kids, Dougie and Everly, and left the house to head to the baseball diamonds for their regular Thursday night activities.

Her fiancé Craig Howe is a pitcher and infielder for the Dirty Farmers slo-pitch team and the couple looked forward to a normal Thursday night at the baseball fields north of town.

Just as the first pitches were thrown that night, the ball diamonds were shaken with the explosion that rocked the downtown, less than a kilometre away.

“Craig and I looked at each other and we knew,” said Jami-Lee.

That was 27 days ago and the family of four has not been back to their Talbot Street East home since. Their house, just east of the Wheatley Post Office, lost a couple of windows in the blast.

“We haven’t seen any photos or anything,” said Jami-Lee. “We heard a couple of our front windows were blown out.”

Luckily that night, a firefighter friend was able to go into their house and grab their bag off the counter. That bag contained all the essentials the couple would need for a short time away. Little did they know they would need long-term accommodations.

That’s where Wendy and Jeff Bowman came in.

After a few days with Craig’s parents, Bill and Diane Howe, Jami-Lee and Craig were offered a place to stay by the Bowmans, who own a lakefront cottage outside of Wheatley.

The Howe family poses for a photo on Sunday, September 19. They’ve been displaced by the Wheatley explosion since the evening of August 26. From left are Craig, Dougie, Jami-Lee and Everly.

SUN photo

The couple is grateful to have a roof over their heads.

“I feel like the shelter was the main thing, especially with the young kids,” said Jami-Lee. “We’re back into our routine and a bit of a normal life.”

She says that donations of clothing, backpacks and stuff for the kids came pouring in and they have been very fortunate compared to others.

She felt the help offered by the municipality was something they should allow those more in need to take advantage of.

“We’re very fortunate and are okay financially, so we left that for others,” she said.

For Craig, he feels the community has been awesome.

“You know what, it’s the community. They’ve done nothing but support us and made it really easy,” he said. “I can’t even express how grateful I am for that. I know there will be worse-off people out there.”

Craig said he’s proud of the way his community has rallied around those directly affected, and that same community is making things easier for them.

“It’s been tough, but it’s also been easy because of the help,” he said.

They don’t know what the immediate future holds with regard to the home they’ve owned for a few years now.

“We don’t know if there is any damage,” said Jami-Lee. “We haven’t been back there at all.”

What they do know is that they have a quarter of a pig in their freezer that won’t smell very good by now, but the laidback couple takes it all in stride, thankful that they are all okay and able to stay in their daily routine.

They’ve had no conversations with Chatham-Kent about when they can hope to get back to their home, but do subscribe to the regular email updates sent out.

Jami-Lee has immersed herself into helping others and has recently been asked by Lauren Anderson and Kim Grant to join their efforts with the Wheatley Recovery Group.

She feels that’s the least she can do for a community that has been so good to her family.