YORKTON – A fire that decimated an apartment complex on Dec. 6 left several families without the bare essentials but a Yorkton resident stepped up to help those families in their time of need.
Kristen Weber-Karcha, Owner and Instructor at Extravadance Studio, typically organizes a toy and food drive this time of year. Upon hearing the news of the apartment fire, she felt it was her duty to help those who had been impacted.
"We do a toy and food drive here (Extravadance) – we ask the students to bring in toys and non-perishable items, so I thought it would be just perfect to kind of partner with that — get some jackets, some blankets — things like that," said Weber-Karcha in an interview with Yorkton This Week.
"Well, it turned into three trailer loads of clothing and bedding and kitchen items – you name it," said Weber-Karcha.
With the outpouring of support from the community, the Extravadance Studio soon became full and Weber-Karcha needed to find a more suitable space for all the donated items.
"I reached out to Pastor Des at Prairie Harvest and he helped me get a space — we're still running classes at the studio so we didn't have room to spread this out for people to come and get what they need — so we were able to go to Bruno's place where they have an open hall," said Weber-Karcha.
Different groups and individuals showed up to help organize the the donations.
"I had some people come and help volunteer – the staff from All About Flowers came to help, some students from DREAMbuilders – staff and students from there came to help me sort and fold and unpack everything," said Weber-Karcha, adding, "over a couple of days all the residents that were affected by the fire were able to come and get what they needed."
"The stuff was all donated for people in need, so after a couple of days we were able to pack it up and...we took it to Serendipity [a local thrift store]," said Weber-Karcha, adding, "any of the fire victims who need anything will be able to come there and get what they need with no charge."
When asked why she took on the responsibility, Weber-Karcha said, "I find it very hard to not help people who are in need."
It was evident that the community held the same sentiments when the overwhelming support for the effort saw donations total enough for 70 families.
"It's really impressive — the amount of people that showed up to help and it makes me proud to live here because there's people that care — there's people that want to help others in the community that they don't know — they didn't ask questions — they just started showing up and bringing things and I think that says a lot right there."
