Canso's spirit shines during blizzard
CANSO - No one had to worry about being cold or hungry during an extended power outage that came with last Wednesday's blizzard in Canso. Town council, the Lions Club, emergency officials and other volunteers joined forces in opening the fire hall to those in need.
According to mayor Ray White, the power went off and on during the night and then stayed off starting at 5 a.m. It returned nearly 17 hours later, at close to 10 p.m. The town had hooked the fire hall up the day before with a standby generator. Starting at around 11 a.m., they ran announcements on the two local radio stations letting residents know they could come to the hall to get warm and have a warm drink.
Volunteers called seniors in the community and helped transport people when needed. About 60 people came into the hall during the day, including the town's public works staff, ambulance officials and others at work during a day of extremely high winds and heavy snow.
"It's the spirit of the community that's so impressive," White said during an interview with The Journal. "I'm proud to be mayor of a community that rallied as well as it did." White noted that there was no shortage of people calling to volunteer to help, whether it be for picking people up, making sandwiches, or calling seniors living alone.
As the storm and outage wore on, volunteers saw the need to prepare a supper meal at the fire hall. Lions Club members went to their building, which has stoves powered by propane, and prepared spaghetti and meatballs, as well as fish chowder. In addition to serving those at the fire hall, meals were delivered to 10 people in the community.
"We're now looking at hooking that building up with a generator because it's better equipped for preparing meals."
In addition to the support offered at the fire hall, many residents checked on their neighbours and welcomed them into their homes if they had a woodstove. White says being a small community helps Canso be able to respond to residents' needs during difficult times. For example, a councillor who works at the Co-op grocery store was able to get into the business for the supplies needed for the meal, although White notes that even without that connection, it would have been no trouble getting a manager to help secure the needed groceries.
The three seniors' homes in the Canso area - two in Canso and one in Little Dover - share one generator which was moved from one location to the next during the outage. White said when one facility was warmed the generator was moved along, but the building would get cold during its absence. He said council would like to see one generator at each of these facilities. White added that the housing officials who look after these facilities are "doing the best they can with the resources they have."
