A young Swiss family arrived in Vancouver a week ago en route to a job in the BC Interior, but they didn't make it. Wildfires have kept Barbara and Gregoire Kuehn and their four young children from reaching the ranch in Redstone, BC, west of Williams Lake, where they expected to work for the next two years. But Rotary stepped in to help. -- photo by Chris Offer
Gregoire and Barbara Kuehn and their four children, stranded in the Lower Mainland because of BC's wildfires, with Delta MP, Hon. Carla Qualtrough (right) who is leading the federal government's response to the wildfires
In the hope of moving permanently to Canada, and after more than a year filling out forms for a two-year, Canadian work permit, the Kuehn family finally arrived in Vancouver from the Lucerne area of Switzerland with no place to stay, because all roads into their destination were blocked in response to wildfires.
When their future employer found out they were stranded in Vancouver, she put out an appeal on social media to find them a temporary place to stay. She found the family a motel room but not a suitable place for four young children.
Seeing the appeal on Facebook, a member of a Rotary club member in Evanston, Illinois, contacted Chris Offer, of the Rotary Club of Ladner. In response to Offer's billeting request to the 50 members of his club, Ray and Joanne Moschuk of Ladner opened their home to the family.
On July 23, at a joint Little House Society and Rotary Club of Ladner BBQ fund-raiser, the Kuehn family met Delta MP Hon. Carla Qualtrough who, in addition to her Cabinet post, is the chair of the Prime Minister’s committee coordinating the federal government response to the wildfires in BC. Qualtrough, who recently toured the wildfire-stricken areas, gave the family and update on the fire situation.