Nova Scotians step up to 'brighten' Thanksgiving following Fiona

After the storm hit Nova Scotia, Wanda Gray wanted to do something to help with the rebuilding efforts in her community of Pictou County.

The region suffered significant damage from post-tropical storm Fiona and has been one of the most challenging areas for power crews working to bring back electricity.

Forestry workers have also been supporting efforts to get people reconnected in the county by cutting up fallen trees and clearing away debris.

Gray has been keeping those workers fuelled up as part of a team of Salvation Army volunteers making daily hot meals. They're doing it out of a kitchen at the Summer Street community centre in New Glasgow.

Volunteers feed about 60 workers a day

They're now preparing a Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and all the fixings for the workers on Monday.

"I wanted to be able to give something back to these workers with them being away from home," Gray said.

"I didn't like the idea of them eating sandwiches or whatever in the backs of their trucks, so to be able to come back and get a nice hot home-cooked meal adds a little bit of comfort."

The volunteers have been feeding about 60 forestry workers. Some of those workers have travelled from New Brunswick to support the restoration effort.

"I believe this is a great morale boost," said Maj. Daniel Roode of the Salvation Army. "I know that when the guys come in after a long hard day of work it's one of the highlights of their day."

Similar gestures are happening around the province this Thanksgiving weekend.

The Pugwash Open Hamper Food Bank is distributing turkeys to families needing a bit of extra help.

It's not something that normally happens at Thanksgiving. But this year is different because of the storm's impact and the high cost of food due to inflation.

"The large majority of our clients lost everything in their fridges," said Dorothy Pal, who chairs the organization. "We not only give them a turkey, we give them the Stove Top dressing, the cranberry sauce and vegetables because for some of them having lost everything they're a bit down and it gives them a boost."

Pal said people who are getting a bird and still do not have power are making arrangements for neighbours or friends to cook the turkey for them.

In Stellarton, some families are getting vouchers to use in restaurants thanks to the Red Knights International Firefighters Motorcycle Club.

"We thought with the power outages and a lot of people in the area in need that we would help out as best we could," said chapter president Mike O'Sullivan, who is also Stellarton's fire chief.

He dropped off 20 vouchers valued at $20 each to a local school in the community. 

The principal identified the families most in need. 

'It's the least we can do'

The remaining vouchers were donated to others still dealing with Fiona's aftermath.

"It will, hopefully, brighten up their Thanksgiving a little bit," O'Sullivan said. "It's not a large amount of money but we wanted to try to do something."

Gray hopes the forestry workers will at least get a taste of home even though they will be away from home on the holiday.

"It is the least we can do," she said.

As of Friday, Nova Scotia power said the vast majority of those still without power are in the northeast of the province, with larger pockets of customers in New Glasgow, Pictou, Stellarton and Trenton.

The utility said progress is being made but those outages are taking longer to fix due to the level of damage.