Yesterday a fire in downtown Bowmanville destroyed two historic buildings and damaged others. Residential tenants lost their homes, businesses were ruined, and the outreach work of Bethesda House, the local shelter for women and children at risk was dealt a huge setback as their clothing store and offices were wiped out.
This has a very personal impact because my wife, Ruth, is the outreach worker for Bethesda House. Not only did she lose many personal items she had used to make her office attractive, the accumulated wisdom of her years in training as a counsellor in the form of presentation notes and course outlines went up in smoke. Ruth does presentations in the school system, the college and university, and with community groups. There can be no dollar amount set as compensation for this "intellectual property" and the loss is overwhelming.
Please pray for the clients of Bethesda House who will be affected by this disruption, those who lost businesses and residences, and the staff members who lost their work home, including Ruth.
This has a very personal impact because my wife, Ruth, is the outreach worker for Bethesda House. Not only did she lose many personal items she had used to make her office attractive, the accumulated wisdom of her years in training as a counsellor in the form of presentation notes and course outlines went up in smoke. Ruth does presentations in the school system, the college and university, and with community groups. There can be no dollar amount set as compensation for this "intellectual property" and the loss is overwhelming.
Please pray for the clients of Bethesda House who will be affected by this disruption, those who lost businesses and residences, and the staff members who lost their work home, including Ruth.
5 comments:
I think the whole town is devestated!! As we stood watching the firemen pour water on the flames all I could think of were those affected at Bethesda House. I tried too to get the message to our daughter about those who are now homeless. I hope she understood. I did not realize that Ruth's office was there as well. We can be thankful that no one was injured however the loses as you mentioned cannot be replaced. This was the location to purchase tickets for their upcoming fundraiser, where might these tickets be purchased now? Will the fundraiser still take place? Our prayers go out to all.
Ruth and the Bethesda house mission, clients, along with the apartment dwellers and faithful shopkeepers of our old town weigh heavy on our hearts and in my prayers...life, at times, seems so unfair....I pray
I went to sleep thinking about Ruth last night and I woke up this morning thinking about Ruth. Please relay that she has much, much, support.
Thanks to all of you for the prayers and words of support.
I heard of what was going on yesterday and my heart broke. I felt so frustrated that I am so far away and unable to offer any support to those who were affected. It also made me realize that a tragedy such as this one, not only hurts the residents or business owners/employees who operate or live in those buildings, but it hurts anyone and everyone who has ever loved this beautiful town. It has truly made me homesick and I wish I could be closer to help out in some way. David- I wonder if you or Ruth do internet banking, that I might be able to transfer a small donation that could go towards Bethesda House?
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