A group of international students in Prince George lost everything from a tragic house fire last month.
The house on Pinewood Avenue hosted 10 exchange students from India, five of which lost everything except the clothes on their back from the incident on November 30th, which resulted in damages worth $200,000.
Since then, they’ve been able to find new homes, but some important documents, including their passports, were burned to ash.
CNC International Liaison Arvinder Billing says the young men felt completely helpless following the fire.
“This is their first trip anywhere outside of their home country, so they were devastated,” Billing explained to My PG Now, who added in his eight years as an immigration specialist with the post-secondary school, he’s never seen any damage to this extent.
“It’s hard enough for people like you and me, or somebody who has lived here for years and years, to lose everything and, for somebody who has just arrived, if that’s the only thing that they have and they lose everything, they don’t know what to do. They have no idea how insurance works or how to deal with the RCMP.”
Billing also rushed to the scene of the fire to talk with the young men and even welcomed them into his home for dinner that night to make a plan and start the healing process.
This included buying essentials like clothing, shoes, and bathroom amenities, but he decided to take to social media for help as well.
Billing immediately began a Facebook fundraiser open to the Prince George public, hoping to collect $10,000 to help make ends meet for the boys.
He said they’ve been amazed and grateful to the community thus far for showing unconditional support in a time of crisis.
“It’s not even about the money, you know like, someone could give $10 to $100, that doesn’t matter. It’s, at the end of the day, about standing for each other and doing what’s right. What matters to the boys is how everybody pitched in; it gives them all the more reason to stay here and study here, and they are very committed.”
As of this morning, the fundraiser has surpassed $6,000 from local residents to help pay for rent, food, and schooling needs.
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