Though a Salmon Arm woman recently lost her home to a fire, her daughters are just glad "we still have our mom."
On May 6, a fire destroyed the RV Gilian McTavish, 75, had been calling home. Though it was a complete loss, the family is focused on the positives.
“Thank God she wasn’t home,” her daughter Monique Cusson said. “So we still have our mom, and the material things – although some of them aren’t replaceable – they are just that, they’re material things. And right now the focus is just getting her back on her feet and getting her settled and back in her community.”
While she said the fire department was unable to determine the cause of the fire due to the total loss, they said it was most likely electrical, and fuelled by the gas and two propane tanks that exploded.
The loss is compounded by the fact that McTavish hadn't yet insured the RV that she had bought through a small family inheritance as an affordable housing option instead of the rental market. She had just moved it onto the property in April using a day permit, and gotten it all set up to live in following her scheduled hip surgery. In “all the craziness of moving,” getting insurance got lost in the mix, making the loss a complete writeoff, "hence the GoFundMe."
McTavish is currently living with Cusson in Chilliwack as that had been the plan for recuperation after surgery, but she’s anxious to get home to Salmon Arm where she was born and raised. Cusson added that as “none of us feel comfortable with her living in an RV again,” the GoFundMe is to have some money set away in savings to help housing costs.
“We’re working on getting her a BC Housing application submitted and we’re hoping that, given the situation, we may be able to have it expedited,” she said, adding there’s a senior complex in town that has a couple of units available. “Because otherwise, the rental market in Salmon Arm, it’s just impossible.”
The fund will also help McTavish replace the necessities lost in the fire, but it unfortunately can’t cover the loss of sentimental items.
“It's been pretty devastating for her, that's for sure. It was a motorhome she was living in, so she’d reduced all of her stuff down to the things that were really special to her," Cusson said, mentioning photos in particular. "She’s remembering, as the days go on, more and more things that are gone and the things she can’t replace."
In addition to the fund that, as of noon on May 9, was at $2,415 of its $20,000 goal, Cusson said the other community support has been amazing. She has eight or nine volunteers confirmed for a work bee to sift through the debris for salvageable items, and get the area cleaned up for the property owners who have "been so kind" throughout this.
“The community support though, that is something that I really, really want to emphasize because she said to me yesterday morning that it’s pretty hard to stay sad when there’s all this love continuing to come in,” Cusson said. “It’s really brightening her spirits, all of the support that she’s been getting.
“We all just want to say thank you to the community from the bottom of our hearts... thank you.”
