$10,000 raised for houseboat fire victim
Benefit and online donations bring in thousands; 'It just came together so organically,' says concert organizer
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
More than 100 supporters rambled on down to Old Town Glassworks over the weekend for a fundraiser concert to benefit Kim Fuller, whose floating home on Yellowknife Bay burned down July 17.
Grey Gritt performs at the Kimborama benefit concert – which raised around $5,000 for Kim Fuller, who lost her houseboat to fire on July 17, which brings the total amount raised to $10,000. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo |
Fuller declined comment but Janna Graham, one of the organizers of the event dubbed Kimborama, said Fullar was moved by the outpouring of support. Close to $10,000 in donations were raised at both the event and online.
"I think that she was pretty touched by the support of her community," Graham said.
Graham said she used to live in the houseboat next to Fuller's and is good friends with her.
"Whenever something like this happens ... we all want to help," she said. "One of the things I like to do is organize concerts. So I thought that was something I could do to contribute. But really it wasn't that much work because everybody wanted to play."
Graham said Nick Jackson, Casey Anderson, Grey Gritt, Leela Gilday and the Old Town Mondays crew got on stage to entertain visitors packed into the Glassworks' backyard. She said Peter Cullen, a songwriter-guitar player who hasn't played publicly since the 1980s got up and performed as well.
"It just came together so organically," she said.
Graham said Wade Carpenter, another houseboater, got up and delivered a speech during the second half of the evening, thanking a pair of houseboaters who were first at the scene of the fire, bringing pumps to help douse the flames.
Carpenter said he wanted to make a point about the resiliency of houseboaters.
"The houseboat community is one of, if not the last, unregulated houseboat community in Canada," he said. "But I don't call it unregulated at all, I call it self-regulating. We're a tight-knit community."
He said some people in town don't approve of houseboaters - who don't pay property taxes - but he hopes events like Kimborama help illustrate the importance of the community.
"The houseboat community is a tourist attraction," he said. "When I talk to tourists from out of town they can't see what the problem is with the houseboat community and why it isn't promoted more by the city."
He said most houseboaters would be willing to pay fees if it meant they got more services.
"Houseboaters would be willing to do that if they got something in return," he said.
Graham said the two houseboater "firefighters" were presented with superman capes with the words "Yellowknife Bay Fire Brigade" written on the back.
"These superman capes ... were pretty awesome," she said.
