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20 stou suntribue saturday may 12 2007 may 122007 an open letter from unionville home society dear members of the markham community as many of you know on monday may 7th at approximately 1220 pm a horrible fire broke out in heritage village located on the campus of unionville home society by the time the flames were extinguished twelve homes were completely destroyed and four others seriously damaged in all 91 seniors were affected both directly and indirectly thanks to the immediate action of heather mcgilvery and kathleen heslip who while out walking noticed the smoke and knocked on resi dents doors to alert them the outstanding response from the markham fire department and our own staff all residents escaped the blaze and are safe for that we are so thankful home ociety we now begin to put the pieces together and are working with each displaced resident to find them a safe and appropriate place to stay our colleagues in the system and in particular the regional municipality of york and bethany manor have been tremendously supportive and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts as we move forward helping residents to put their lives back together the community support weve received has been phenomenal within hours of the blaze offers of practical short term and longer term support began flowing in wed like to take this opportunity to try to say thank you in a most sincere way to everyone who has come forward and played a role in the safety and care of our residents during this crisis it is difficult to know where to begin as each individual and organization has played such a crucial role on behalf of the board of directors residents families staff and volunteers of unionville home society we would like to say thank you to all those who helped and continue to help us cope with the tragic fire in heritage village at the time of the fire so many individuals pulled together to help in whatever way they could many putting their own safety at risk to help our residents in particular we would like to thank markham fire department who arrived so quickly and worked with such professionalism to extinguish the blaze while treating all of our residents with tremendous respect compassion and caring you were amazing york region police who provided security and support to all of us during and after the blaze again with respect compassion and caring members of the emergency response unit who supported our residents and offered comfort and care throughout staff of unionville home society who worked with a high level of professionalism to ensure the safe evacuation of residents and made sure that all were accounted for they continue to provide physical social and emotional support to residents needed more than ever at this time i for their ongoing support immediately following the blaze we would like to thank bluestone bistro shoppers drug mart subway longos tim hortons 7828 kennedy road and loblaws for providing nourishment to residents and staff throughout the crisis shoppers drug mart for providing gift certificates for each resident in need telus mobility emergency response support for arriving within an hour of the blaze to distribute cell phones to any resident or staff member in need walmart for providing clothing for residents pol furniture for offering to provide furniture to meet some of our resident needs rosedale launderers and cleaners christinas onehour cleaners and masters cleaners for committing to clean smoke damaged clothing from resident homes knights of columbus of st justin the martyr church for a 5000 donation to help residents and for providing a bbq for all campus residents reverend eric schultz from bethesda evangelical lutheran church reverend mary joseph from pathways church and the many other local clergy for coming on site to provide individual counseling and support and for engaging their parishioners to donate time and goods minit press for offering printing services our local provincial and federal politicians for contacting us and offering support including mpp michael chan mp john mccallum mayor frank scarpitti councillor joe virgilio and other members of town council to the over 120 people and businesses who have called to offer to help in so many ways donations of food and other goods volunteering their time offering accommodation to residents the offers of support have been overwhelming and have been coming forward to staff and residents across the campus please forgive us if we have for gotten a name we at unionville home society have experienced first hand what we already knew the compassion of the community in markham is tremendous we are in gratitude to everyone who stepped up to help our work has just begun and will continue for some time as we plan to rebuild please contin ue to give in whatever way you can xfi c glenn crosby chair board of directors nancy kula president and ceo