Helping Families in Attawapiskat

Please Note:  Red Cross has announced it has sufficient funds and materials for these families.

We can all help to make a difference in this community by helping to ensure the people have what they need for a warm, safe living environment. No community should live this way. We have other Aboriginal communities that live in just as poor conditions as our Attawapiskat community, both here in Canada and in the United States. Our countries shouldn't have this type of poverty. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we don't step up to do something about this. We really need to dig in and begin our human kindness and helping hand. They need us and we need to call to action. Please, help where and how you can. Thank you.

Helping Families in Attawapiskat

Presently in Attawapiskat there are five families living in tents; 19 families living in sheds without running water; 35 families living in houses needing serious repair; 128 families living in houses condemned from black mould and failing infrastructure; 118 families living with relatives (often 20 people in a small home); there are 90 people living in a construction trailer. There's a need for 268 houses just to deal with the immediate backlog of homelessness.

Meanwhile temperatures have dropped 20 degrees and will likely drop another 20 or 25 degrees further in the coming weeks. For families living in uninsulated tents, makeshift cabins and sheds, the worsening weather poses serious risk.

The following items are needed:

· Warm clothing

· Snowsuits

· Boots

· Electric heaters

· Non-perishable food items (flour, rice etc)

· Warm bedding
Goods can be dropped off or financial donations mailed to:

Public Service Alliance of Canada

C/O Social Justice Fund

233 Gilmour, Ottawa, ON, K2P 0P1
OR,

at Dominion Outreach Centre in Ottawa

(8A-2016 Ogilvie Rd.)

OR,

Freewill donations to Red Cross Emergency Relief Fund for Attawapiskat

This event is co-sponsored by KAIROS and Centretown United Church