Help Out High River Patagonia Sale

[CPs]

On June 20, 2013 record rainfalls in southern Alberta caused severe flooding effecting hundreds of thousands. The CP family was also severely impacted by these events, we are proud to have stood together, many of you at our sides, in the face of such devastation and have begun the long, hard road of rebuilding. For the support you have give us, we cannot thank you enough.

Days after the flooding we were approached by the amazing people at Patagonia, specifically our regional representative, Rob Owens of Onward Up, offering clothing for direct donations to the citizens of High River as well as for fundraising. How could we refuse!? Starting Saturday, July 6 select Patagonia clothing will be available at deep discounts (50-80% off) and all proceeds will benefit flood victims and Bow River restoration projects. In addition, CP will be distributing 13 boxes of Patagonia clothing directly to High Riverites.

Stop by, browse around and help support our river and the citizens of High River, some of the hardest hit by the 2013 flooding. Please note, all Flood-specific sales are cash only and there are no returns or exchanges.

All the best
Mike, Kevin, Jason, Caitlin, Josh, Terry, Petar, and Emma
Country Pleasures Fly Fishing

 

 

 

[murray]

Way to go Patagonia. Great support from the fly fishing community.

Coutry Pleasures, good on you for all you do.

 

I urge any and all FF people, guys and gals to get over there and buy the whole darn works. Mike tells me all of the proceeds go to the flood recovery at High River.

[SilverDoctor]

Good stuff I will support this

[CPs]

As it stands right now, you have helped us raise $8000 for High River Flood Relief and Bow River Restoration! Thank you so much!

Having said that, Rob for OnwardUp just dropped off another whack of stuff donated from Patagonia. Got a bunch more of the good stuff.

 

Womens Supercell Jackets, Better Sweaters, and Merino. Mens Nano Puffs, Hooded Monk Sweaters, etc.

ALL AT 50-80% OFF. Help us reach $10K for flood relief.

[CPs]

Hey everyone, this is Caitlin Gifford from CP. I wanted to send you all an update on our shops status in flood relief and fundraising.

We are really pleased to announce that we reached our goal of raising $10,000 for flood relief and river restoration funds. Thank you to everyone that helped us get there!

All remaining clothing has been packaged up and we are working to get the items to the people of High River who need them.

 

After speaking with multiple organizations over the last couple weeks we are handing over a cheque for $5000 to the Mormon Helping Hands and another cheque for $5000 to Alberta Conservation Association. We choose ACA as they have been tasked by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resources with repairing many of our badly damaged boat launches. Hopefully, we will see this money make a difference in the near future.

 

The choice of the Mormon Helping Hands is a bit more personal.

Some of you may know that the Gifford family is from High River, we have lived there for over twenty years. It is where I grew up and where I call home. The flooding on June 20, 2013 caused significant damage to thousands of homes, including my grandparents. The staged re-entry process allowed us access to their home nearly ten days after the flooding hit; eight days after the waters had receded therefore we knew we were walking into a very messy situation.

Never in my life could I have imaged what awaited us that day, and the days and weeks following.

The amount of work that needed to be done was overwhelming. In this neighborhood in the north-west part of town, we weren't only dealing with flooded basements and ruined belongings, we were dealing with homes that had ten feet of water in them and as the water drained it left feet of mud in their basements. It took teams of ten men eight to ten hours to clear a basement out of belongings, furniture and the collapsed drywall. Only then could a vacuum truck start pumping out the mud and slurry. One house took over 18 hours of vacuum time to simply remove all the mud.

 

During the early stages, most volunteers were turned away except those that could drive in with home owners (I escorted dozens of people in through the road blocks just so they could help). The only exception were the Mormon Helping Hands, somehow they were able to gain access to help when others hit road blocks.

 

They all wore bright yellow t-shirts (that were yellow for a very short time before becoming mud soaked) and they reminded us of a bee swarms. Dozens of them showed up on a block and just started helping house after house, bringing with them words of encouragement and extreme kindness I had never seen before.

 

On this street alone, we would still be working today if it wasn’t for the Mormon Helping Hands. They are still in High River, working incredibly hard to save strangers homes and what little they have left of their lives.

 

They deserve a huge thank-you, one that words will never be able to express.

 

This money will go towards tools, cleaning supplies and many other goods that this organization needs to help repair people’s homes.

 

The Gifford family (including our amazing staff and customers) grew massively in the last few weeks when we saw dozens of people stand up and help us through this very difficult time. We have only started on the long road of rebuilding; it will be years before things even resemble normality. This fundraiser was one way we wanted to say thank-you and do a small part in helping get our world back to normal.

 

Thank-you to everyone, everywhere that worked so hard during this time of crisis in Calgary, High River and elsewhere. Thank-you to Rob Owens of Onward Up and Patagonia for the generous donations that allowed us to reach this incredible fundraising goal. Thank-you to everyone that has helped us get where are today, we look forward to a day that even slightly resembles the world we lived in a month ago.

 

 

All the best

Caity