MULGRAVE – In an instant, Velma Greencorn lost almost everything. The fire that destroyed the Mulgrave Manor apartment building on Tower Rd., where she lived, on May 31 left the 75-year-old without her home, her clothing, her medications and many of the everyday things she depended on.
But then, says her daughter, Wilma Greencorn-Bouchie, something extraordinary happened.
“I cannot believe the amount of people who have reached out, sent funds,” she told The Journal in an interview, just days after the fire devastated the three-storey structure in the community’s downtown area. “Some of it was donations because [people] just wanted to get money for her.”
In less than four days last week, a fundraiser – organized by one of Greencorn-Bouchie’s co-workers, Sharon Nicholson-MacEachern, at the Nova Scotia Community College Strait Area Campus in Port Hawkesbury – had generated more than $5,000 through a combination of ticket sales and direct cash gifts. Many of the contributions, Greencorn-Bouchie said, came from people she had never met after the appeal spread rapidly across Facebook.
“There’s so many people I don’t even know. It’s been shared so many times by so many people. People are buying tickets and stuff that I’ve never even heard the names before.”
According to Nicholson-MacEachern’s Facebook post hours after the fire, all proceeds from the Father’s Day draw on June 20 will go towards helping Velma Greencorn rebuild her life. The prize package included 12 cooked lobsters, four steaks, potato salad, pasta salad, coleslaw, biscuits, desserts and two cases of beer. “All the salads, biscuits and baked goods will be made by me,” she assured.
For all involved, the campaign has been a durable sign of grace against a brutal and incendiary backdrop that police are treating as “suspicious.”
According to Cpl. Carlie McCann, public information officer for the Nova Scotia RCMP, the Tower Road apartment fire was one of four other fires that are being investigated for possible links to a homicide in Upper Big Tracadie.
Police say the Mulgrave fire was reported at about 11:20 p.m. after RCMP, local fire departments and the Office of the Fire Marshal had already responded to a fatal residential fire and another suspicious blaze in Upper Big Tracadie. Two additional suspicious fires were later reported in Havre Boucher.
The RCMP says some residents of the Mulgrave property suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were assessed by Emergency Health Services and transported to hospital as required. Investigators believe the homicide and the fires were targeted incidents, and the investigation remains ongoing.
According to Greencorn-Bouchie, her mother is okay and, for the present, living with her in Aulds Cove while the family works to help her get back on her feet.
She said several immediate needs have already been met. Her mother’s prescriptions have been replaced, a new cane has been purchased, someone donated a walker and one of her co-workers provided a CPAP machine. Staff at the NSCC also took up a collection to help with immediate expenses.
Greencorn-Bouchie said she is now hoping to help her mother find a new place to live and begin putting her life back together.
Above all, she said, she wants people to know how deeply grateful her family is.
“It’s just so positive. There’s so much negativity in the world. But when a tragedy strikes and people come together and they’re there, it’s overwhelming. It’s just so nice to see.”
She said the family specifically thanked Nicholson-MacEachern, the NSCC staff, the many people who donated money and personal items, and the volunteer fire departments and RCMP members who helped in the aftermath.
“We’re so very grateful for it all,” Greencorn-Bouchie said.
