A man who opened a free store for wildfire evacuees in B.C.’s Okanagan says he’s grateful for the outpouring of donations—but some people are using the store to unload unwanted items such as used hygiene products, broken toys and dirty clothes. Joel Patan’s store is meant to provide a sense of normalcy to evacuees, to make things a little easier for people who fled on short notice and no longer have a home to return to Patan himself is among those in the hard-hit community of Faulder who lost his home to the Bald Range wildfire earlier this month. “When me and my wife found out our home was gone, we basically looked at each other, and I said to her, ‘We got to go help people,’” Patan said. The store in Penticton is stocked with donations from the community such as racks of men’s and women’s clothing, along with school supplies and personal hygiene items evacuees need to rebuild their lives. But while Patan is grateful for every contribution, he and his volunteers have noticed some people treating the store as a place to dispose of goods that are better suited for the landfill. “We opened a box together and it was half-used bars of soap, half-used makeup,” Patan said. In one case, a shirt donated to the store reeked of cat urine. “We would open bags where, you know, you had to take it outside because it smelled so bad,” he said. He added, volunteers were making daily trips to the landfill just to dispose of these items. Patan said he doesn’t believe people are donating maliciously, but said the issue escalated to where he felt he had to speak up. “Where is that fine line of what should we be giving?” he asked. He posted online, asking people not to use the store as a space to clean out their homes. He said that after everything evacuees have lost, they still deserve to feel human. “We’ve gone through a traumatic event and we want to focus on making sure that we’re sorting through good clothes for these people and make sure that we’re giving them quality items, because sadly, they have nothing left,” Patan said. Since speaking out, Patan says the quality of donations has improved. But there is one item, he said, the store never seems to run out of. “The amount of toothpaste, of toothbrushes we have gotten—you know, I’m going to be sending the dentists over there because I have so much,” Patan said. “There will be no cavities in Faulder, I can promise you that.” For those starting over, Patan’s message is simple: Dignity matters just as much as donations.
