Cumberland College in Melfort, Nipawin, and Tisdale held a donation drive for the Cumberland House Cree Nation daycare that was lost to fire in early December. (Facebook/Cumberland College)

By Angie Rolheiser

Cumberland House donations

Cumberland College collects donations for Cumberland House Cree Nation daycare

Dec 23, 2019 | 12:00 PM

When a newly renovated daycare was lost in a fire at the Cumberland House Cree Nation band office earlier this month, staff and students at Cumberland College felt compelled to help.

They ran a donation drive at their three main campuses in the northeast and had a great response according to Brenda Mellon, manager of marketing and continuing studies at Cumberland College.

“We didn’t have a specific goal in mind but we just wanted to open it up to our larger communities to provide donations,” Mellon said.

Donations were being collected at the campuses in Melfort, Nipawin, and Tisdale. The town of Carrot River was also a drop-off location during the drive.

“We had quite a lot of donations and a large shipment actually already has been sent to Cumberland House this past week,” Mellon said.

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Melfort and Nipawin campuses will continue to collect new or gently used clothing, school and art supplies, toys and books until noon on Dec. 24. Cumberland College reopens on Jan, 2.

“These are items that would be useful for the daycare, specifically for kids up to about five years of age, so if people have extra items at home that they would like to donate we certainly would welcome those,” Mellon said.

The fire at the Cumberland House Cree Nation band office was confirmed by RCMP to be arson and investigators are still searching for suspects.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser