The Editor,
Re. "Lots of help for Mossom" (The Tri-City News, Dec. 18).
On behalf of the volunteers at the Mossom Creek Hatchery, I wish to express profound gratitude for the surge of community kindness since the Dec. 11 fire.
City of Port Moody council and staff have backed us from the instant we called in the blaze that quickly turned our beloved hatchery and environmental education centre to ashes. We are deeply grateful for the rapid and fulsome response from the city, which has included a $10,000 emergency fund and the loan of a trailer to get us back in operation on site.
Messages have poured in with kind words and offers of assistance - equipment, labour, fundraising, project management, planning, building, volunteer co-ordination, grant writing, documentation and archival research.
Funds to rebuild are coming from elementary, middle and secondary school fundraisers, individuals, organizations and companies too numerous to mention here.
Centennial students even from the late 1970s are offering their photos and news clippings to rebuild our history. Our Mossom Facebook page is incredibly active with powerful reminiscing. Promises of big ticket items for a significant fundraiser are emerging.
We are deeply touched by all these gifts and by so many expressions of condolence. These have come not only from those who have experienced our educational and enhancement work in the watershed but from many who have never been there. It tells us that our community places a high value on nature and nature education.
We thank The Tri-City News for its extensive stories. This has helped to bring the public to us at a time when we need support more than ever.
We are currently in the process of organizing our rebuilding team in order to take advantage of the generosity being offered by so many. Due to the proximity of the holidays, this will take a few weeks. We humbly request some patience as we reflect about what this rebuild should look like. We look forward to sharing this new vision in early January and will be welcoming input from the community.
Ruth Foster, Co-founder, Mossom Creek Hatchery
