By Hayley Ferguson

Downtown businesses team up to help family after house fire

Oct 30, 2019 | 5:33 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – This past weekend, a single mother and her three children were victims of a house fire in Crescent Heights.

“They had been there less than a month and they had no renters insurance in place. So effectively they have lost everything. And on our coldest day of the year they were standing outside watching the firemen spray their belongings with water,” said family friend Jeremy Silver.

The smoke damage was so bad that the family has been left without a timeline when they can get back into their home and most of their belongings can’t be saved.

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That’s why Silver, who is a business owner downtown and the chair of the board of directors with the City Centre Development Agency, decided he needed to help.

He said he started calling around to downtown businesses to see if they could help the family.

“I really had no doubt that the downtown business owners would step up to the plate. I did call some other businesses in other districts and ask and all the downtown business owners were the first people to call me back. And the generosity is wonderful and I am proud to be a representative for them.”

One of those businesses was Little Munchkins Clothing and Such, a non-for-profit kids’ clothing store.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose everything. To have three kids that don’t have anything,” Little Munchkins owner Nikki Bateman shook her head. “They’ve lost everything. So they can come in and get whatever they need.”

Silver says that the way business has been trying to help the family, which includes a seven-month-old baby, has been special to see.

“The downtown business owners are hit hardest. They don’t have the big corporate giants to fall back on like the box stores. And they rely on the local population spending money in their stores supporting them,” Silver continued. “When times are tough downtown business owners suffer more than most. But we’re all friends, family, and neighbours here who take care of each other.”

To find out more about the family and you can help contact Silver by email at jeremysilver@protonmail.com