Firefighters in Paraguay will soon be singing the praises of Canadian Aid for Fire Services Abroad, and its 'chief' Víctor Fernández. Next Friday, the former volunteer of the year will be shipping a batch of refurbished masks to the fighting Bomberos Amarillos in Asunción, the country's capital and largest city. If you can imagine fighting a fire – or fighting COVID – without a mask then you can probably imagine how appreciative the bomberos will be to get their CAFSA shipment. Until it comes, they're doing without.
CAFSA is sending over a care package with 50 SCBA masks, adaptors and respirators. Although retired from St. Albert Fire Services, Fernández is still on the job helping to save lives by taking functional though outdated firefighting equipment (including pumper trucks), cleaning and servicing them, and then sending them off to other fire departments mostly around Central and South America that currently don't have enough to go around. Saving firefighters saves the world.
Respiratory protection is the number one priority especially for front line workers including firefighters, recently said, noting that many Central and South American firefighters do not have their own personal mask as part of their personal protective equipment. Often, one mask is shared among ten.
CAFSA is still looking for more 3M Scott Masks (AV 2000, AV 3000, and AV 3000HT). If you can help or if you know of a fire department that can, please contact Fernández by phone at 780-913-4788 or via email at [email protected].
D'Arcy's pays it forward
The local butcher shop with a long history recently offered up a protein-packed boost to the St. Albert Food Bank as a ‘pay it forward’ gesture to the community. Late last month, D’Arcy’s Meat Market dropped off 144 kg of ground beef to the St. Albert Food Bank, an amount that’s the equivalent of more than 1,200 servings.
“We decided to make the donation because we have been hearing that some folks in town have been hit hard with layoffs and we've been fairly busy with people needing to eat at home and choosing to support local. This has put us in a good position to give a little back,” offered owner Kyle Iseke.
In a social media post on March 23, he expressed his gratitude for the support of the community over the last year, and for his customers’ unfailing patience as they waited in longer lines than usual and unflinching diligence in wearing their masks while treating the hard-working crew behind the meat counter with the utmost respect.
“The team and I wanted to give back in honour of all your support,” he wrote. “I've always felt very lucky to own a business in such a caring and supportive community. I'm looking forward to providing high quality, Alberta sourced meats for (hopefully) many years to come!”
He added that D’Arcy’s new Edmonton location has seen similar support from the community that won’t be soon forgotten. Likewise, that shop is working on its own gesture of gratitude.
Raffle for kids' soccer
The St. Albert Soccer Association is currently running an online 50/50 raffle to raise funds for its Riel Park facility. Tickets start at $10 each and go up to 4 for $20, 20 for $50, and 100 for $100. As of Friday morning, the jackpot was nearly $5,000. Visit www2.rafflebox.ca/raffle/sasa to purchase your tickets. All proceeds go to support funding for the player’s benches, bleachers, facility maintenance, and field improvements.
