May 2016
Russell Staff take paid time off to help evacuees from the Fort McMurray fires.
Russell staff, such as Patrick Lake, took CEO Dave Russell's offer to heart and volunteered at one of several evacuee support centres. Volunteers were assigned to load and unload donated clothing, food and other supplies and to sort, box and help distribute to those who had lost their homes to "The Beast" as the fire became known.
At the time of writing, there were no injuries or loss of life attributable to the fire itself. 88,000 people were evacuated from the oil HQ town in Northern Alberta, which is a huge tribute to the fire chief and his team.
The images of people evacuating while flames soared 200' on each side of the road will continue to sear our memories for some time to come.
The outpouring of compassion from Canadians across the country has been remarkable. Differences in faiths, political leanings, biases and favouritisms were all put aside as people came to the rescue of those who were displaced. The Red Cross alone has raised close to $100 million at time of writing, and have rapidly disbursed those funds to people who need to rebuid their lives.
Russell and PICA are very proud of our employees' individual efforts to help in this disaster which continues to race towards the Saskatchewan border with no rain is sight.