Texada Island residents are banding together after a fire destroyed the Shelter Point Regional Park caretakers’ home and popular food concession attached to the residence September 4.
Shelter Point Park is located just south of the community of Gillies Bay on the western side of Texada Island. Caretakers Bruce and Susan Mortson’s house in the park burned down with all their belongings. While the house itself and the concession were insured, the contents of the Mortson’s home were not, said Dave Murphy, Texada director on the Powell River Regional District board.
A benefit concert is being organized which will give the community a chance to raise money to help the Mortsons and to express gratitude to the volunteer firefighters who battled the fire.
“Our firefighters did a tremendous job protecting the rest of the park from the fire,” said Murphy. “They made sure that the fire didn’t explode the propane tanks. There are still people camping there.”
The benefit concert is being planned for Saturday, September 29 at the Gillies Bay Hall and will highlight local musicians from The Texada Island Allstars. Murphy said when he heard about the fire he phoned his brother Paul and they organized musicians Dave Spragg, Doug Saunders and Dennis Fox to participate in playing some good old fashioned rock and roll for a good cause.
Murphy added that he was just continuing a long-standing Texada tradition when he started organizing the fundraiser. “This just seemed to fit with the benevolent community spirit,” he said.
When news of the fire started to spread around Texada by word of mouth and social media, Lorraine Allman, manager at the Texada branch of First Credit Union in Van Anda, began receiving phone calls from local residents. They wanted to know how they could help.
“We are a getting a lot of calls from the community, so we started looking into a way to set up an account so the community could make donations to help Bruce and Susan,” said Allman.
“If you live on Texada you should know that Texada island residents have got your back in your time of need,” said Murphy. “We stand up and look after our people.”
For more information about the benefit concert or how to make a donation to help the Mortsons, contact Murphy at 604.486.7137 or Allman at First Credit Union 604.486.7851
