The Canadian Red Cross is enjoying their first day at a new location in Williams Lake.
“It’s a great location. I’m pleased to be here,” says operations manager John Jackson of their offices now located at 510 Broadway Avenue North.
“It’s actually a lot brighter and more spacious than where we were. We had set up originally in the Mall because we were dealing with lots of people coming in at that time and we had big lineups so we needed lots of space. Now we’ve moved to a more casework focused model based on appointments.”
The office in Williams Lake according to Jackson has numerous support staff and four teams which each consist of a supervisor and five caseworkers.
To date $50.8 million has been spent and committed by the Canadian Red Cross to assist those impacted by the 2017 BC wildfires according to a 6-month report.
The deadline for Phase II funding has been extended for a second time until May 31, 2018.
“The reason for the extension is we want to help everybody that’s been affected by the wildfire and we realized there was still a lot of demand and we wanted to make sure everyone has had time to apply and receive that assistance,” says Jackson.