UPDATED: 05/13/14 20:22 From Facebook – Thanks to Jeff Gruban and Paul MacLeod of the Abbotsford Dignitarian Society (Abby Diggs) Faye Bentley, whose tent and belongings were destroyed by fire Monday night, has a new home by the TeePee.
Gruban and MacLeod acted quickly to get the tent and, with the help of Pastor Ward Draper of 5 and 2 Ministries and Faye herself, got her set up in her new tent.
Seen below is the damage done in the fire and Ward, Faye and Jeff putting up her new tent.
Photos from Abbotsford Dignitarian Society (Abby Diggs)
Faye Bentely’s damaged tent and ruined belongings.
Pastor Ward Draper, Faye bentely and Jeff Gruban work to put up Faye’s new tent provided by the Abbotsford Dignitarian Society.
UPDATED: 05/12/46 21:46 – Reports from the scene are that the tent which caught fire at the TeePee camp on Gladys belonged to Faye Bentley who was not in the tent at the time of the fire.
POSTED 05/12/14 21:41 – Reports are sketchy at this stage but Today has learned that a fire broke out this evening in one of the tents at the TeePee homeless camp across form the Mennonite Central Committee’s new building on Gladys Avenue.
There is no word whether anyone was hurt nor if was an accident or deliberately set. The TeePee was moved from the Standoff in Jubilee protest camp in Jubilee Park on Christmas Eve after the City of Abbotsford received a court order evicting the men and women in the camp based on assurances from the City of Abbotsford that there were plenty of shelter spaces for all of Abbotsford’s homeless.
The camps along Gladys Avenue have continued to grow over the months since the City’s statements to the Supreme Court about the availability of shelter space in Abbotsford.
Last weekend volunteers from the 5 and 2 Ministries and the Salvation Army together with other community volunteers devoted several hours to cleaning up the numerous camps along Gladys.
Deb Lowell, of the Salvation Army, admitted in the Abbotsford News Saturday that there aren’t places to house the growing number of homeless along Gladys Avenue and throughout the city.
Watch this space for updates.