Community rallying around the Nevilles

In the wake of the early morning fire two weeks ago at the production greenhouses for Les Serres Neville, the local community is reaching out to try to help. As of Sunday morning, a fundraising campaign on the online crowdfunding website Gofundme.com had raised just under $6,500. Mary-Ellen Kirby, who organized the fundraising campaign on Gofundme.com said that raising money in the wake of a fire is just something Townshippers do, particularly those in the farming community. “We do tend to look after each other around here,” Kirby said, pointing out the recent example of the fundraising dance for the Johnston family after their fire in February. “That’s a very difficult thing to go through,” she continued. “Our hearts really go out to someone who is dealing with such a horrific event. This sort of thing takes a terrible toll on people.” Although the Nevilles are not livestock producers, Kirby said that local farmers certainly see them as a part of the community and so very soon after the fire she started to think about organizing an event like the one that was held for the Johnstons. “That is getting harder to do,” the campaign organizer said, explaining that challenges with finding bands and venues that could accommodate everyone led her to consider the online option. “Not everyone is comfortable with the online stuff,” Kirby said, explaining that a few different opportunities to interact with Gofundme.com in the last year convinced her that it was a worthwhile and trustworthy platform. “I made a very modest $1,000 campaign goal,” she said, “but we were well over $1,000 before we were ever 24 hours old.” See full story in the Monday, April 30th edition of The Record.