Dozens of residents of St. Albert, Alta., gathered Wednesday night to show their love and support for the family who received a hateful and racist letter earlier this week.
The letter complained about the Katrina Anderson’s three children playing outside and said, “We don’t like your kind around here, we lock our doors at night when there was no need to do that before you moved in.”
“Move out or things will escalate,” the letter went on to say. “Would not want to see the kids getting hurt.
“This isn’t a reserve. Go back to the reserve where Indians belong!”
The tone of the letter shocked fellow Grandin residents.
“Immediately I felt sick, I felt sadness,” Kristin Kalmbach said.
“But then I thought about our community and how I know this is not what St. Albert is and this is not what the Grandin neighbourhood is,” she said. “I don’t want the horrible words of one to outweigh the love of our whole community.”
READ MORE: Threatening letter that says ‘this isn’t a reserve’ prompts Alberta family to move
Watch below: A letter directed at a young family north of Edmonton is racist and hateful and has gone viral. As Sarah Kraus explained on Wednesday, the family that received it is in shock.
As a fellow mom, Kalmbach wanted Anderson and her children — who are 10, 12 and 13 — to know they’re not alone.
“I was like, ‘I need to do something so they know they’re loved and safe in our community,'” she said.
She helped organize a flash mob of kindness. Kalmbach took to Facebook, posting on the community’s page and inviting families to come out and meet the Andersons.
“Can we show up with food, love, hockey sticks, bikes and just play? Show our support.”
Dozens answered the call, bringing dinner to the Andersons.
The kindness nearly brought Anderson to tears once again, but this time for all the right reasons.
“I’m really touched actually. Just seeing everybody — I’m touched,” she said.
The families filled the small street with laughter and activity, proving a point to the anonymous, hateful neighbour.
“I’m glad that people aren’t standing for this at all,” Anderson said.
The family is still planning to move, however. They say they’re happy the RCMP are investigating but still feel uncomfortable that the letter’s author hasn’t been identified.
“I want my kids to feel safe where we live. We should have that right, right? It’s 2018.”
Kalmbach hopes the gathering at least showed the family there’s lots of good people out there. She made it clear that the goodwill won’t stop here either.
“If they want us to help use our muscles to move, or if they want us to babysit kids or have a play date, they are part of us, we are one community,” she said.
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