A Hay River business has collected goods and cash to help victims of a fire earlier this month in Yellowknife.
The Great Canadian Dollar Store stepped forward to help out after the Oct. 2 fire at Rockhill Apartments, which left 33 families homeless.
"I would like to think that if something like that happened in our community that Yellowknife would be there for us," said Catherine Hill, the owner of the Great Canadian Dollar Store. "So giving the people of the community an outlet to come in and drop off toys or non-perishable food or clothing or cash donations or anything, I thought would be important. I just thought it would be important to help out where we can help out."
She said Hay River did its part and has thought about Yellowknife.
"The North is so small, so we all need to take care of each other," she said.
The store started collecting donations the day after the fire.
It collected all kinds of items – coats, socks, sweaters, toothbrushes and toothpaste, coffee, soup, mitts and gloves, hats and more.
Hill noted that customers dropped off quite a lot of stuff in a bin at the front of the store and Georgina's Place Thrift Store helped out with clothing and other items.
The donations – a pallet of items weighing close to 400 pounds – were sent to Yellowknife on Oct. 17 via Manitoulin Transport, which provided shipping free of charge.
In addition, a cash donation of $200 was sent North – $100 collected from the customers of the Great Canadian Dollar Store and an extra $100 from the store itself.
There was no goal for how many items or how much cash would be collected, said Hill. "It's just whatever people want to give."