Community rallies to aid victim of fire

On Monday night, January 12, a fire broke out in the mobile home of Barbara Morris of Ingersoll Road on Grand Manan. Morris escaped out into the night in her bare feet on one of the coldest nights of the winter.

Morris said she woke in the night to find her couch on fire. She believes it started from an electric blanket that she left on. "I tried to put water on it. It wasn't the fire that drove me out, it was the smoke," she says. "But the thing took off, and I couldn't get back inside. I opened the door and thought the dog had gone out past me, but when I realized she wasn't around I knew, I just knew, she didn't make it." The dog was found dead hiding under the bed the next day. Morris spoke of her loss and what good company the dog had been to her.

The loss was just one of many Morris endured that week. She had just come home from her mother's funeral on Saturday. She lost about $500 and the keys to her car as well as some cherished family photos in the fire.

"People have been so good," says Morris. They dropped off clothing and a Save Easy gift card, helped get her keys replaced and gave her a place to stay until spring. The Grand Manan Rotary Club met with her to see what would be done. When she was asked what she would like if they could build something for her, Morris said she would like just a small, high-ceiling, open-concept building, with a bathroom built on a cement slab. She couldn't believe they were asking what they could build for her.

"I've been outfitted with clothes, and so many people have called to ask how I am. People have been so good to me," says Morris. Her neighbours, Julie and Blaine Russell, took her in for a few days while she waited for the hot water to be installed in the summer cottage. "Thank God for Julie," she says. "She was the one that called it in."

Kathy O'Neill of Grand Manan Insurance says, "Barb wasn't covered by insurance. We called up and asked if we could set up as a drop-off for people to donate money, clothes and things, and she thanked us for wanting to help her. Barb has always been a hard worker. She never sat around waiting for hand-outs. It's easy to help out someone who has always been willing to help in anyway she could. A lot of people know she's made the best of the hardest of times."

Barb Morris, who recently turned 65, was enjoying retirement. Until she was hurt in a car accident a few years back, Morris could be found clamming, gardening or engaged in some very labour-intensive work. She was often seen canoeing around the outer islands and checking out wrinkling or clamming spots that most people would consider too much work to get to. On her slow days, it was not unusual to see her out riding her horse, Jack.

Morris says she'll spend most of her time cleaning up what she can around her property, getting it ready for when she can rebuild.

Donations can still be sent to Grand Manan Insurance, 1149 Route 776, Grand Manan, N.B. E5G 4E9.