Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Calgary Helps - Pt 1

The past several days have been incredibly stressful for our beautiful city. Neighbourhood evacuations, people displaced, pets lost or displaced, communities torn apart, business interrupted, city workers, emergency first-responders, our Mayor & Premier stretched to the limit. Sometimes past it. But what has come out of this devastating situation is perhaps a bit of a surprise to some, if not many. 

 How many volunteer organisations and how much heart this city has for each other and even the people they don't know, is beautiful. We've come out in droves to help each other.

 I've trolled my Twitter timeline (TL) to cull the list of links, volunteer organisations, people out there that help, information for home and business owners alike. While many are not on Twitter (or surprisingly Facebook), some of this stuff should be in one place for those that aren't utilising those e-places, I hope you find some of it useful. and yes, I'm using the Canadian version of some words.

 #WeAreCalgary

 It started with this: Wow! If you are watching right now, you are probably in awe, just like me. The aerial view from the chopper is just insane.

 There were early contenders for bad-business of the year award but I won't give them any kind of note here. Shaw opened it's network to all Albertans early on Friday. As did Calgary's Food Truck Nation. Yes it's a noun and Mayor Nenshi created them. 

 "Calgarians opened their hearts and homes as best stat from is that 100,000+ have been evacuated and only 1,500 needed shelter." (from @EricFrancis) 

 Who knew we had it in us? So much love for the unbelievably dedicated and hardworking civic, fire, medical and transit staff followed. I'd be totally remiss leaving out the tireless news stations and reporters that have done an exemplary job keeping us informed. Mayor Nenshi even gave them props.
21 Jun
to and for exceptional info distribution during


21 Jun
. by all means, if you see officers please offer them food or water. other than that we have lots of supplies available. Thanks

We now know the name of this fellow and it didn't take long. Shawn Wiebe is now on Twitter @Shawn_Wiebe. This pic of an awesome firefighter in Mission needs to go viral. Please share!

Calgary rocks “: Thank you so much to the anonymous viewer who gifted the whole newsroom with pizza! ” (I had to stir the pot after this with: So the folks in studio have been well fed but who's taking care of the tireless pros in the field? ...) Proudly, the Food Truck Nation responded and has been since.

21 Jun
Great Samaritans! “: we had to cancel our event this wkd & have 500 catered meals that can be donated

21 Jun
Great news! “: Donating $1M to relief, $250K immed to ; will also work w/ other partners in recovery efforts.

21 Jun
absolutely! We're not that type of family we practically give it away its so cheap! We r here to support not get rich

21 Jun
Ok Calgary, let's see how many RT's we can get. This is trending on twitter. Let's keep it going!!

The following statement is a highly repetitive theme:
21 Jun
My mayor ! Sleep deprived, massive decision making non stop &he still knocks it out of the park @ a presser. , making us proud!

21 Jun
We're down in Mission feeding emergency crews! A huge thanks to for hooking us up with…

Corporate partners really did step up to the plate. Even one of the new ones.
“: Target employee bringing cart of pillows 300+ srs at South Fish Creek @ YMCA… ”

21 Jun
"Hug your public servants" - on . Nice shout out to hardworking folks putting in long hours in .

21 Jun
These guys look like an unlikely band of superheroes and I love it

22 Jun
Wicked hash tag for Flood 2013 - credit to

22 Jun
This is an AMAZING pic. Thanks so much to our great military for helping us out!!

22 Jun
Calling artists and buskers! If you would like to volunteer to entertain folks in the reception centres, call 403-531-7413 to register.

And this is a sampling of the first day. There is more to come.

The traffic woes began early on Friday. We knew there were a bunch of rubber-neckers or lookie-loos but we come to find out there more than we though. A small cross-sections follows.

  Macleod Trail underpass before and after shots.

RT : Just drove from McKnight to 130th Ave in the SE in 30 mins by usin 52nd south. Northbound was ugly but south was empty.

 : . cabs won't be able to enter restricted areas and may be delayed tonight.”
21 Jun
Wanna see an eerie pic?! Power is completely out in Downtown Calgary!


22 Jun
Pass it on: -> bike donations for those who have lost their wheels during . Want to help ?

Believe it or not some folks had their bikes unscrupulously removed from their homes by others that don't live there.

22 Jun
If you don't have to go near any flooded areas, please don't. You're just making it harder for & , etc.

22 Jun
Mirrors have blind spots, just becuase you checked it doesn't mean you're not going to hit somebody. Shoulder Check!

So many people were moved from their homes so quickly and not everyone had the chance to take their pets. So terribly, sadly, some won't be reunited. Others have been taken up by our Calgary Humane Society, Animal Services and various vets, rescue organisations and temporary foster families.

  Calgary Humane Society is taking in any animals stray or pets that need shelter right now. .

Residents posting things like this:
22 Jun
Dog found in Bowness near C.O.P. no tags. Please call 403-288-2620

22 Jun
“:Missing G/W Mcat in Riverbend SE name Kool friendly pls call XXXXXXX ”

A tactic we should look at utilising?
22 Jun
Cat Catching

22 Jun
RT : FOUND – Floating in DT @ Fish Creek Animal Hospital SW.contact Kim at XXXXXXXXXX

22 Jun
great job 2day! can we get a quick retweet? lots of found pets on our page lookin for owners

So I've been going back and forth and back again. I've barely scratched the surface and I've sat here for the better part of a couple hours. Wow. I had no idea I spent this much time on Twitter. Almost as much as our beloved Mayor.

I promise to keep at this and gather it all together for those that need it. There is so much great and badly needed information to collate. I will keep going. As is the spirit of Calgary. I'm glad I was born and raised here. Proud my family has been residents in this province for well over 100 years. I bet none of the seasoned ones ever saw anything like this before either. We can only hope we never do in our lifetimes, again.

#WeAreCalgary
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)