How YOU Are Helping The Residents of Fort McMurray!

I can’t believe that I’m already back with another Cameo update as it feels as though I was just sharing last month’s donation details with you! I’m sure many of you know what Cameo is by now, but for those of you who may not, you can read all about it in over on my initial blog post, here! To give you a quick rundown, each month I do a number of videos for fans and at the end of the month we tally up the amount raised on Cameo from all of the videos and we donate the funds to a different charity each month.

For those of you who may have not heard the news, Fort McMurray suffered from a devastating forest fire back in May 2016 and then they were hit with flooding in May of 2020. From the fire in 2016 and the flooding in 2020, many residents have had to evacuate their homes, they lost personal belongings, and in some cases, their homes burned to the ground or were completely flooded.

I knew right away that I wanted to give back to this very deserving community, but I truly didn’t know where to begin! So many of the residents were affected by the fires and flooding and I wanted to make sure the money raised went directly into their hands. When in doubt, I ask my amazing community for help and thankfully I had a number of suggestions come in, thanks to all of you!

So, Team Jilly and I took the time to go through each recommendation to find out who was in the most need. After a number of emails, phone calls, and some more research, I am SO happy to announce that we will be donating $10,000 to the following charities in Fort McMurray:

1. YMM Helping Others

A lady by the name of Lynne organizes and runs a local Facebook page called YMM Helping Others. This incredible Facebook page started when a group of ladies saw a need in their community and decided to take action.

Over the holidays each year, they host an Adopt a Family Program to fulfill a family’s wish list. Similarly, when the flood happened they did the same thing but helped families with their immediate needs including gas, groceries, gift cards, clothes, and toys for the kids. These ladies work hard to make sure the residents in their community are taken care of!

2. St. Aidan’s Society

St. Aidan’s Society’s main focus is to help seniors in the Fort McMurray area. Roughly 32% of the seniors that live in Fort McMurray were impacted by the floods. Most of them are currently waiting for government funding as most don’t have insurance. This is likely because their house is located in a floodplain or because the insurance company is deeming the flooding was due to “sewage back-up”. St. Aidan’s top priority is getting the basements of those seniors’ homes insulated as summer is short and funding could end up taking a while.

3. St. Vermilion Food Bank

Vermilion is a smaller community in Alberta that was also impacted by the flooding. This community didn’t receive as much media attention and therefore didn’t receive as much as much assistance. To help as many of the residents in this area as possible we are donating a portion of the funds raised through Cameo to their local Foodbank, the St. Vermilion Food Bank!

When I took a look at the total funds we have raised through Cameo I am in complete shock, we have raised over $54,400 CAD to help those in need! I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, this would not be possible without all of YOUR support! Thank you for keeping me busy these last few months and ultimately supporting SO many people in need! I can’t wait to share many more Cameo fundraising updates with you soon!!

Until then!

Jilly

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