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Thursday, December 19, 2013
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Ho-Ho-Holiday Train
COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER Friends lend a hand when young boy’s memorial trashed
13
JESSICA PETERS / OBSERVER
Matt Dusk and Melanie Doane kept the crowds singing and dancing when this year’s CP Holiday Train stopped in Agassiz Sunday night. A record crowd showed up for the event, which is a nationwide food bank drive. See story on page 13.
BOOTHS TO PLEAD GUILTY
Family will be home for holidays
Update on Agassiz couple caught with cash at border
14
INSIDE news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 mailbag . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 community . . . . . . . . 15 classiÄeds . . . . . . . . . 17
Robberstads, left homeless after house fire, wrapped in community support Jessica Peters THE OBSERVER
The Robberstad family has a home for the holidays. It's a wonderful turn of events for the family of six, following a devastating house fire that left them homeless last week. They should be moving into the house in the next day or so, Connie Robberstad said. And while it's in need of a little work, it's nothing a few good tradespeople and some elbow grease can't fix. "We have a place now, we just have to get some people together to clean it up," she told the Observer on Monday.
"It's just a lot of little things," she said, like a constantly running bathtub. The best thing is, the house is in the same rural Agassiz neighbourhood as their previous home. And while there weren't many possessions left behind after the fire, there were several family pets. "It's not too far to get the animals," Robberstad said. "There are places for the chickens and the pigs and the pony." The family was given three nights at a hotel for free, through Kent's Emergency Social Services program. But when that ran out, they had to start paying $200 a night for a hotel.
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Robberstad is thrilled at the idea of settling back in, and creating a home for their four children. And the community has stepped up to help in that regard. As soon as word got out that a local family had lost their house, donations began to pour into the children's school, Kent elementary. Principal Chris Wejr jumped in to help gather donations and communicate with the family to find out what they needed. The answer was 'everything, — but there was nowhere to put it. They needed a house. That came with the help of Wendy Colman, yet another school district
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employee who is helping the family get back their feet. "She has told us to make a wish list," Robberstad said. "With her help, we can do this." The community support has been a comfort, she added. In addition to the clothing that has been collected for the family, Wejr started a fundraising page on FundRazr. On Tuesday afternoon, the total raised was sitting at about $2,800. "It's hard to believe," Robberstad said. "That's a lot of help from the community. It feels really good. It's a really big burden off our shoulders, to know that the community is there Continued on 3
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