Excellent work by the community in donating; it’s a great way for everyone to participate in a positive way in dealing with the tragedy that affects more than just the workers and families of Lakeland Mills.

But I wonder how much “need” there ever was for the cash – no one asked for it. And given lack of requests, it would be tragic if there really was no significant need for this money, but because of various process rules it couldn’t be used for another important community purpose.

I think it’s fair to say the money raised far outstrips the need. Time will tell. I hope there’s a full, public report when all is said and done.

The people who set up the fund should not expect the employees to come forward with applications, they should be asking the employees to find out who has had to shell out their own money for travel and other expenses. If WCB benefits have been sufficient and there is no real need, the Lakeland Mill employees should be asked how they would like to spend it.

This is sure becoming a difficult situation. I wonder if anyone at the Community Foundation who specializes in such fund raising activities intended to benefit the purpose specified has any experience with dealing with such a situation.

I know of at least one annual fundraising event which was gladly cancelled in order to support the several similar active events geared to supporting any worker in need.

If the employees that need it don’t apply for it I guess they don’t need it very bad. So what should be done with it? Send it to Burns Lake if there is a greater need? Buy food with it for the food bank?

As far as I’m concerned it should go to the injured ones that need it. If it isn’t needed anymore then it’s time for someone to say stop so people can go back to giving to the other charities that need it.

Give it to the Hospice House and shut the donations down if no one needs it. I know quite a few Lakeland guys and they are doing just fine. Some of them took an early retirement.

PG and Northerners are very caring and generous in their giving in time of need. My family gave to both the public fundraising efforts and directly to a LL family in need. Sure feels great when you know you can help in some way. The PG Community Foundation is a very trustworthy organization and I have no doubt those in charge will allocate the funds appropriately, including any monies left over after the final round of applications is processed.

I am personal friends with 2 of the Lakeland employees, both were previous Winton Global employees, each received over $70,000 in severance pay from Winton Global. Both started working for Lakeland shortly after Winton Global closed. Neither was injured and one has now gone to pension. The other is now working in another mill. They weren’t working the night of the Lakeland fire so why should they be getting any of this fund. They will get another severance from Lakeland if it’s not rebuilt. WCB will pay most of the expenses for those who were injured. This fund should only be used to help out the employees who were injured and not physically able to find other employment because of the injuries. Not one penny should be going to employees who were not injured, especially if they weren’t even working that night. My two friends are all excited and looking forward to getting a chunk of that fund. That’s rediculous!!!

Their application should be denied. Simple as that.

Then there was the guy whos little kid let our thier dog, which was picked up by the pound, he said he couldnt afford the 185 needed to bail his dog out, and his kid cried himself to sleep each night, and because he USED to be a contractor with lakelands people fell all over themselves to pay his bill. Talk about taking advantage of a bad situation and preying on peoples feelings at the time. I call that despicable to go public with a story like that to illicit sympathy.

These workers should not have to go cap in hand to the foundation, working all their lives its not easy applying for money and have to explain why you need the money. The fund was started to help the workers and should be given to them and not subject them to more crap. Many will not ask for help because they never have. The foundation was first to jump out and except money and now started another society unnamed were workers can apply for funds, fill out a form with personal information and explain why the should recieve funds its BS. I gave money for the workers and their familys thats it.

I didn`t work there but I can use a cool 30 G`s…

Hat in hand

I am a very high paying taxpayer an employer now and have also been through the very seriously injured/rebuild my life process with the help of wcb. We all pay for these programs and if you are injured at work they will pay extremely well to help you retrain for different work and rebuild your health with the best care available from North America ! It is not the taxpayers fault that long term employees refuse to be retrained for different work when offered for free(such as a lot of laid off people do) or have not saved a dime for life emergencies of any sort. It is sad that all this money can’t be raised for struggling single mothers or the poor schmuck diagnosed with cancer and just needs a tiny little bit of help, like a scholarship to our local college or day care costs etc. People have to consider this when donating their hard earned money. I donate to cancer

We are all entitled to a opinion , but there is a lot of miss information out there.The fund committee was only formed a few weeks ago and the fund application was only sent out 14 days ago. There is 150 employees , most with 20-30 years seniority.The CNC barbecue and the wrist bands were spearheaded by employees friends and families for Lakeland employees.

Just one last point, after the burns lake mill fire,we had a payroll deduction at lakeland and I can honestly say we averaged 50-100 dollars per employee and it was matched by our head office Sinclar.