Homeowners, groups grapple with administrative avalanche after Halifax-area wildfire

It's hard to imagine when Tricia Murray-d'Eon gets any sleep.

She recently lost her home in the Halifax-area wildfire, works full time, has an eight-year-old daughter and is helping other residents like herself receive support.

"None of us have been in this boat before," said Murray-d'Eon, co-chair of the Highland Park Ratepayers Association. "I have no idea what I'm doing.

"It felt almost insurmountable when this first started."

Despite her own hardships, Murray-d'Eon and a small group of Highland Park residents have been working to help members of their community navigate support being offered in the wake of a wildfire that destroyed 150 homes in Hammonds Plains and Upper Tantallon.

Homeowners say they have been confused, frustrated and even humiliated by the overwhelming process of accessing support, as community groups grapple with an avalanche of administrative work related to delivering it.

How funds are funnelling to families

Nine local community organizations are receiving funding allotments from United Way Halifax, which has raised $1.4 million to help those impacted by the wildfire.

The organization's mandate is to ensure people are food secure and do not slip into poverty.

It is legally unable to provide funding directly to individuals. It administers the funds to community organizations, as required by the Canada Revenue Agency. It's then up to those organizations to decide on how to use the money.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Red Cross has raised more than $5.4 million to provide direct help to families and individuals who lost their homes or sustained significant damage. A case worker will work directly with those families.

But the distinction between the fundraising efforts and information on how to access support has not been clear to homeowners like Jody Stuart, a father of three who lost his home in Yankeetown.

Stuart said he spends hours each day responding to emails and driving to various places to pick up gift cards of between $50 and $100 from the various community organizations, on top of communicating with his insurance adjuster and working as a carpenter and contractor.

He said administrative work does not come naturally to him.

"I really could use a secretary or an assistant," said Stuart, who is living in an RV on his neighbour's property while his house and garage are rebuilt.

"I'm really thinking hard about getting somebody to act on my behalf for that kind of thing because I am trying to get my life somewhat back together so I can work, and time is not on my side."

Stuart said he appreciates the help being offered, but thinks organizations should be offering an option to mail gift cards, and should perhaps try to organize themselves so assistance can be offered at a central location.

He said he feels uncomfortable asking for help and has felt embarrassed standing in lineups of people.

"It's a weird feeling I get when I'm taking these gift cards," he said. "That feeling gets very overwhelming. So, I've avoided it quite a bit because of that."

Murray-d'Eon feels the same way. She has declined much of the support being offered simply because the process of accessing it is time consuming and humiliating.

"It is very uncomfortable asking for financial support," said Murray-d'Eon, who is now living in Kingswood.

"We live in a middle-class neighbourhood. We own our home. We pay our bills. We are in pretty good financial state. But now all of a sudden we have this massive thing that happens and all of a sudden we're asking for support to buy groceries."

Still, she is the co-leader of a group that is helping people in Highland Park, a subdivision that was severely impacted by the wildfire that started May 28. 

She's creating spreadsheets to keep track of all the impacted residents, trying to find people through more organic means who may not be on Facebook or the Internet and communicating with them all to ensure they stay informed — all while working full time as a job trainer, communicating with builders and insurance adjusters and taking her daughter to a daily swim practice.

Murray-d'Eon noted that all the community organizations are doing the best they can with the limited resources they have, and many have never dealt with the fallout of an emergency of this magnitude.

'Feeling our way through'

Caroline Gallop of the Freedom Kitchen and Closet in Lower Sackville, N.S., is single-handedly managing the funds being administered to that church organization.

It has meant hours of daily emailing, and even fronting several thousands of dollars on her personal credit card to purchase gift cards so homeowners could get help sooner.

She has been trying to communicate more with the other groups so that they can better organize themselves, and congregate when support is being offered so homeowners don't have to drive to multiple locations. She's also been offering to mail gift cards.

"It's the first time that this community I think has had to deal with this kind of a situation, so I think we're feeling our way through and trying to do the best that we can," said Gallop.

"For the most part, people are extremely grateful, but they have so much to deal with."

Gallop added that the small staff at United Way Halifax have been extremely helpful and compassionate.

Sue LaPierre, director of the social impact strategy at United Way Halifax, said although the community organizations are administering the funds, if people are having trouble accessing the support being offered, she encouraged them to reach out.

"We really do want to make it easy," she said.

"I think it's one of the benefits of being a smaller 20-person organization we can be quite nimble and respond to community in almost real time."