Mayor of Kitimat, Joanne Monaghan, spent a summer in Bella Bella when she was younger and she just fell in love with the community and the people.
When she saw on the news about a fire that had destroyed the community’s only grocery store, she knew she had to help.
“They were just perfect, beautiful people,” said Monaghan of the people she met there.
“When something like this happens, it’s devastating.”
So earlier this month, Monaghan brought a motion to council to create a plan to send books to Bella Bella – the community’s only library was housed in the same building as the store.
Monaghan asked the residents of Kitimat to donate any new books and DVDs.
The community managed to raise 125 boxes of books. “They really opened up their arms and their book shelves,” says Monaghan.
A local trucking company has volunteered to shop the boxes to Prince Rupert for free, where they will be picked up by a ferry and shipped to Bella Bella – also free of charge – on August 5.
The mayor says she is not surprised her community was able to come together to help Bella Bella.
“This community is a community that helps people… If they can help, they’ll do it.”
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