For Marie Bilheimer, watching the devastation attributable to the Los Angeles wildfires is emotionally tough.
The Kelowna girl spent 31 years residing in Los Angeles earlier than transferring to the Okanagan in 2019.
“All of my household that dwell there nonetheless, they have been all evacuated. Everybody we all know was evacuated,” mentioned a tearful Bilheimer. “Fortunately my household are all secure. They have been simply sort of on the fringes, however practically each good friend that we all know misplaced their home.”
Her former Altadena neighbourhood has been decimated.
“The road that we lived on with all of our neighbours the place my infants have been born, that was our dwelling, that’s the place we began our household, that home is gone,” Bilheimer instructed International Information. “That entire road is gone. The entire neighbourhood round it’s gone. The parks we might stroll to are gone.”
Bilheimer is accustomed to the sentiments of concern stemming from an out-of-control wildfire.
She vividly remembers when embers from the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire went flying, igniting fires too shut for consolation.
“It was simply a few years in the past that we noticed the hillside … on fireplace and coming down,” Bilheimer recalled. “We have been simply on the perimeters of the evacuation.”
Residing in a wildfire-prone space, mixed along with her connection to L.A., has prompted Bilheimer to launch what she hopes might be an enormous bottle drive to assist assist three households who misplaced houses in her former neighbourhood.
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Space resident Reena Yost noticed the main points of the bottle drive on social media and immediately determined to assist.
“We have been right here for the Kelowna wildfires simply over a yr in the past. We weren’t evacuated, so it didn’t have an effect on us in that manner,” mentioned Yost. ” … simply feeling the power of the group, the concern, the loss, it’s simply so good to see how everyone comes collectively in occasions of want.”
The bottle drive is going down now till January 25. The 2 drop-off places (Kelowna Dance and Health at 1634 Harvey Ave., and West Kelowna at MGM Stone on Kyle Court docket) are open throughout enterprise hours.
For specific bag tagging, enter 250-718-1815.
“It’s simply good to really feel like you may assist and contribute even from a distance and simply exhibiting the humanity of individuals,” mentioned Bilheimer.
© 2025 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
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