There are probably many connections for Oliver residents to the tragic events in Fort MacMurray considering how many of our locals work out of town. But Eriel Alcock is my personal connection and I wanted to make sure her story gets shared.
For several years this lovely young woman worked for us at Sundance Video. She grew up here and still has alot of family in the area. People may remember her as Eriel Tepsa, or know her mom, Liane Powell. Alcock is her new married name, the wedding to Adam was only a few weeks ago.
The day the fire tore through the city, they knew chances were they could get evacuated. The police came by and gave them an hour so they prepared their animals to go and started to pack. Unfortunately the police returned within ten minutes and told them to leave immediately. They grabbed their animals and ran. The drive out was harrowing, as most of us have seen in the news footage, through walls of flame and then lines of other desperate people but they made it safely to Lac La Biche and found a room. The 2600 people of that community welcomed 10, 000 plus evacuees and have been doing what they can. Eriel tells her mom, Liane, that both locals and evacuees are trying to help each other as much as possible.
The campground on the local reservation has welcomed as many as they can and offered them two weeks free so they have time to figure out their next step. Eriel says the Chief comes around each day checking on all of them. So far, it appears that they have encountered only the best of humanity.
Eriel and Adam hope to return to Fort MacMurray to help clean up and rebuild but alot will depend on what the situation is when things get under control. In the meantime, they had no rental insurance and have been informed that the house they were living in was completely lost. So they will be starting their new married life off from scratch.
Eriel would never ask for herself, and right now her thoughts are only on doing what she can for the others with her, but Liane and I are hoping that maybe there are some friends and family here that could help her and Adam get started again. Liane tells me that there is a savings account at Valley First Credit Union in Eriel Alcock’s name if anyone has the means to help them out. The savings account number is #50666.
There will be many requests for help for the people and businesses affected by this tragedy and I know that everyone will do everything they can in their own way. If you remember Eriel and can spare anything, she and Adam would be extremely grateful.
On behalf of myself and Liane,
Thank you,
Jenn Morton