Wildfire evacuees staying in the Cache Creek area got a little taste of home last week, thanks to a few volunteers and a lot of locals who rolled up their sleeves and started baking.
“It started as ‘Can we bake for the firefighters,’” says Sue Peters, one of the organizers, referring to the BC Wildfire Service camp at the Cache Creek park, where dozens of firefighters are currently staying.
“We were told they couldn’t accept donations, as they’re a government agency. And I talked to Incident Command, who said the firefighters are fed well. But they said ‘We know there are evacuees in the area, so we’d ask you to do for them what you’d do for us.’”
Peters put out a call on Facebook and posters around town, asking for baking, to help bring a little bit of home comfort to people staying in the area who have been forced out of their homes by wildfire. In addition to evacuees from Lytton, Cache Creek is playing host to people who have been displaced from Oregon Jack, the YD area, Skeetchestn, and Spences Bridge.
“The response was super, just through word of mouth,” says Peters. As of July 28 there were 66 evacuees in the area, so as the baking came in — everything from cookies to muffins to brownies and squares — it was collected and sorted into 33 grocery bags, each one chock full of goodies.
“It was awesome,” says Peters. “It shows once again what a great community we have. You put out the word, and this community answers the call.”
Volunteers visit all the evacuees every Friday, and the baking was distributed on July 29. Peters says that donors have asked about doing the baking weekly, and while that’s not planned at the moment, there’s the possibility of doing it again in the future; watch for notices on Facebook.
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