Photo: Making sandwiches at the JRMCC, Left to right John Charles, Mathew Charles, Joey McLeod/ by Amber Bear.
The Peter Ballentyne Cree Nations (PBCN) community, Southend, is under full evacuation orders, and as directed, the community members will be meeting up in La Ronge at the Jonas Roberts Memorial Community Centre (JRMCC).
“We typically serve as a staging centre for any evacuations in our communities but also for the northern communities that are going through emergency situations. Those communities need to pass through La Ronge, and we are in an ideal spot to help out that way,” said Kevin Roberts, the Director of Sports, Culture & Recreation.
At the JRMCC, you can find a group of helpers working to have bagged lunch ready for the evacuees that have left Southend this morning.
“We got direction from our leadership this morning that Southend was being evacuated. So, we went into “GO” mode here with the staff and we were able to prepare, I think we’re probably at 400 bags (lunch) right now,” explained Roberts.
There are buses are rolling in to the JRMCC, and lunch is available for those affected by the evacuation. It is expected that there will be 72 passengers on the school buses that came to La Ronge from Southend. There are more people that are arriving in in La Ronge using their personal vehicles.
“We are trying to do our part just to help our northern friends and families in other communities; you know, this is something that we do as a part of our organization,” said Roberts.