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Community support still needed for thousands without power on P.E.I.

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Prince Edward Island is still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Fiona, tens of thousands are still without power. That’s creating a great need for food and other essentials, which community groups are working to fill.

There was a steady stream of volunteers at Charlottetown Mutual Aid’s temporary base Saturday.

A small group of 10 core volunteers grew to 200 in the days since Hurricane Fiona hit. That makes them one of the biggest direct support organizations working on P.E.I.

“It really happened overnight. We put a call out for volunteers on Monday. We put up a form and just a call out for volunteers, and they just piled in,” said Kali Ross with Charlottetown Mutual Aid. “We haven’t really had to advertise that we need volunteers, they’ve been coming out.”

Pretty much anything a person could need is being given out by the group; food and water, personal hygiene and menstrual products, as well as blankets, an absolute necessity for the many seniors who spent days living without power.

“These people are struggling, and this shouldn’t have been going on for this long,” said Ross. “These people should’ve been the priority on day one. It should not have taken seven days for them to get a generator from the government.”

The group is helping in a number of ways, from providing essentials, to making hot meals, to sending out cleanup crews.

They’ve been on the ground working with the people hardest hit by the storm.

“It’s devastating. People are suffering,” said Nouhad Mourad with Charlottetown Mutual Aid. “People don’t know how they’re going to be able to pay today’s rent, that’s due, let alone fill their groceries, their fridges.”

There’s been a huge outpouring of support for the people Charlottetown Mutual Aid has been working to help.

“People have been so generous. We’ve had people from across the country, even people from the States, who have reached out to us looking for ways how they can help, they’ve been super generous,” said Ross. “We’ve had so many people coming all day every day to help.”

However, the group says more needs to be done, specifically getting money into the hands of those who’ve suffered the most from the storm.

“We’re doing what we can, but we’re really limited,” said Mourad. “We’re completely volunteer run. We’re relying 100 per cent on donations. Both have been really generous, we’ve received so much community support, but people need to know what’s happening, they need a timeline for when this is going to end, and they need direct access to funds.”

A $250 per household grant through the Red Cross isn’t expected to come through until Monday, though a provincial wage subsidy came into effect Friday.

Work is going across P.E.I., but slowly. About a third of island homes and business are still without power eight days after Hurricane Fiona hit.

Groups have come up across the province, like Charlottetown Mutual Aid, and they’re doing everything they can to ensure people have food, water, and a safe place to stay.

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