By Pepper Parr
August 30, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
There he was – standing at the entrance to Spencer Smith Park, white bucket in hand, hustling for loose change and paper money if you had a mind to give that to him. Mike Wallace was beating the bushes in that folksy style he brings to the public part of the job he does – all for the benefit of the Flood Disaster Relief fund.
Mike “Joe Cool” Wallace out shilling or flood victims.
The bucket guys were everywhere.
People going to the Ribfest almost had to run a gauntlet to get in – the Rotary was not letting you forget that there was a need and they were there doing their darndest to fill it.
The damage done to homes went from damp floors to water that was up to the ceiling in basements and inching its way into the rest of the house.
The Mayor’s home was flooded and so was that of Mike Wallace, Burlington’s member of parliament; proving that the rain gods don’t discriminate.
Wallace just got the inventory from his insurance company and said “it look as if we are going to be OK – but I am still doing small pieces of clean up. I couldn’t find the iron yesterday – it was in one of the boxes the restoration people did when they cleared up the mess from the water that seeped into the basement.” Wallace added: “We didn’t have water above our knees but after a foot, it really doesn’t matter, does it” he said.
“The dumpster was just taken away from my house this morning”, he added.
Wallace mentioned that he had not heard a word from anyone at city hall about how his office might help out. Most people thought the help was going to come from the provincial government – which is true – but what most people don’t know is that all of the provinces have an agreement with the federal government that gets federal money to the provinces when there is a local disaster.
Crowds were good -weather held – and coins were being put in those buckets. Enough? We will know Tuesday morning.
The Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Relief (ODRAP) request to the province to be declared a disaster area hasn’t been accepted by the province yet – even though Burlington is beavering away collecting money – there is $150,000 in the bank with many more thousands in the pipeline and on its way into the account the United Way has set up for the disaster relief fund.
