As we continue to reckon with the lasting impacts of the Canadian wildfires in 2023, we are occasionally finding stories of hope among the embers. Your support for ADRA has allowed us to provide immediate support to wildfire survivors in Canada, like Robin McDougal and her children.

Robin McDougal had been renting her mother’s house in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, living there with her 12 and 13-year-old daughters when the wildfires were sparked. In a desperate scramble to gather their belongings and load as much as possible into their car, the family found themselves leaving behind much more than they cared to. Recalling the desperate escape from the flames, Robin says: “We lost everything. I’m sorry. It’s not been two months since it happened, but I still get so emotional. I have good days and bad days.” To complicate the situation further, Robin’s mother had collected money from insurance, but apparently did not share any with Robin. “I lost everything I owned!” she says. “This has really stressed our relationship.”

Robin’s local softball team had run a fundraiser for her, which allowed her to rent a bedroom in someone else’s home. Though livable in the short term, the arrangement did not accommodate complicated family dynamics. Robin’s daughters spent most of their time after the fires living with their father, from whom Robin was divorced. Robin lamented not having enough space for her daughters, and living too far from where they attend school.

Through your regular support of ADRA, you helped to provide Robin with gift cards that would assist her in replacing some of the goods in the house that she lost to the wildfires, and to cover some of her personal needs in the meantime. Robin’s message to the ADRA workers who served her also applies to donors like you: “Thank you again for everything. You have given me hope.”