Awards Gala for Edmonton newcomers cancelled to help Fort McMurray
'While our event is really important to us, this is so much bigger'
An annual award gala which honours contributions from Edmonton newcomers and the people who support them was cancelled this week due to the fire in Fort McMurray.
The RISE awards scheduled Tuesday night at the Northlands Expo Centre was cancelled to make way for Fort McMurray evacuees. Organizers also didn't think the celebration would be appropriate when so many have lost their homes due to the wildfire.
Instead, food from the gala was donated to the evacuees, enough to feed 440 people.
"While our event is really important to us this is so much bigger," said Erick Ambtman, executive director for the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, organizers of the event. "Our tiny contribution to this effort, you know, it's not remarkable but it's what we could do."
The cancelled gala allowed Northlands to clear the floor at the Expo Centre and set up more cots for the thousands of evacuated people fleeing the fires.
"We were at the centre of a crisis when Syrian refugees were arriving, and we saw what this community did for Syrians and the population that we serve," said Ambtman. "And we felt the same way when Fort McMurray started to burn, and people started to come to our community. We thought what can we do?"
'It's our duty now to stand for Fort Mac'
The gala takes immense planning by the Mennonite Centre, and it's been in the works for most of the year.
But Ambtman said the decision to cancel was met with support.
"In a crisis you just want to feel like you're doing something, and so I think all the attendees felt that in a really small way they were doing something too," he said.
Sarmad Rasheed was set to receive the Community Achievement Award at the gala.
He fled Iraq after he was threatened by Al Qaeda, and settled in Edmonton in 2006. The Mennonite Centre helped him get on his feet, so he started volunteering in order to help newcomers adapt.
Fort McMurray did so much for Canada, and it's our duty now to stand for Fort Mac, and give back.- 2016 RISE Award recipient Sarmad Rasheed
For Rasheed, it didn't seem right to celebrate in the midst of the devastation of the fire.
"It's not about me right now," he said. "It's not about my award. It's not about anything else. It's about Fort McMurray and the people of Fort Mac.
"Fort McMurray did so much for Canada, and it's our duty now to stand for Fort Mac, and give back."
The Mennonite Centre plans to send therapists specializing in trauma to the EXPO Centre to speak with evacuees.
Ambtman says it's a small gesture of support.
"It's really small gestures, but there are thousands of small gestures going on in our community right now. And this is just one more of them."