A group of Vernon businesswomen have come up with their own way to lend a hand with the ongoing wildfire situation.

Alison Ludditt, Lisa Gallie and Li Fryling have opened a donation centre to support the hundreds of evacuees from the Central Okanagan who have arrived at Vernon乌鸦传媒檚 Emergency Support Service (ESS) reception centre at Kal Tire Place Arena.

With wildfires raging in the Central Okanagan and Shuswap, Ludditt, like many other Vernonites, desperately wanted to help in some way. However, Vernon乌鸦传媒檚 ESS had all the volunteers it needed.

Ludditt heard from a friend who was an ESS volunteer that donations of food, clothes and other items were needed, but the city couldn乌鸦传媒檛 accomodate the collection.

After Gallie began inviting people to drop off donations at her store, Big Sun, Ludditt 乌鸦传媒� owner of The Room Collection 乌鸦传媒攈ad the idea to offer up her furniture warehouse to collect, sort and store donated items.

People are welcome to come by the back of the warehouse at 907 Kalamalka Lake Rd., where already a team of volunteers has come out of the woodwork to accept donations.

乌鸦传媒淧eople are just itching to do something to help,乌鸦传媒� Ludditt said. 乌鸦传媒淲e all feel so lucky and so grateful that this year it乌鸦传媒檚 not us, and the minute Lisa put out the word to drop donations at Big Sun, people started showing up. And then as soon as we said we have a warehouse for your stuff, they came in droves.乌鸦传媒�

The women have set up a 乌鸦传媒渇ree store乌鸦传媒� at Kal Tire Place 乌鸦传媒� a trailer filled with donated goods that evacuees and firefighters can help themselves to.

They started the initiative Monday morning and will be at the warehouse tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., when the free store will also be available.

乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 been unbelievable. Businesses that have shown up with $1,000 to $2,000 worth of donations, and just all the humans that are really wanting to help, they show up with boxes of diapers and juice boxes and snacks for the firefighters,乌鸦传媒� said Ludditt, adding Vegpro in Lavington donated 700 bags of salad yesterday.

Ludditt knew there would be evacuees forced from their homes in need of basic items, but was surprised to learn that the firefighters are in need of items too.

乌鸦传媒淭hey are not being nourished as well as they should be,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淭hey are getting meals but they need energy drinks and protein bars and chocolate and all these things just to boost them up, because they are working 18 hours at a time.乌鸦传媒�

Firefighters are also in need of fresh fruit and vegetables, Ludditt said.

While the women have been authorized by Vernon乌鸦传媒檚 ESS to bring donations to Kal Tire Place, no one else has that authorization. The women are asking people to bring donations to the warehouse as the ESS does not have the resources to process donated items.

All donations must be new, as required by the ESS.

Check out the Instagram accounts of and for updates on which items are needed at a given time.

Items currently in need include:

乌鸦传媒� Men乌鸦传媒檚 and women乌鸦传媒檚 clothing

乌鸦传媒� Baby formula

乌鸦传媒� Bottles of juice, pop

乌鸦传媒� Protein drinks in plastic bottles

乌鸦传媒� shampoo, conditioner, hair brushes

乌鸦传媒� Soap and deodorant (male and female)

乌鸦传媒� Diapers

乌鸦传媒� Phone chargers

Ludditt says the team will continue to help for as long as needed, and with more firefighters coming to the area, she expects the need to last 乌鸦传媒渇or quite a while.乌鸦传媒�

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