There has been overwhelming hits on my blog since I posted about the 2013 Alberta Flood, and I thank all of you who have shared the postings and shown such encouragement and support to the flood relief efforts here in Southern Alberta.

It has been truly overwhelming to see how people have come out in droves to assist their neighbours in practical ways as we rebuild our province and repair homes and hearts here.  Today I listened to the news report that nearly 1.6 million gallons of water is being pumped out of flood zones EVERY hour here in Southern Alberta.  600,000 gallons in the downtown core of Calgary alone.  I am particularly drawn to the reports from the Calgary Zoo, very hard hit in the flood zone and how staff have worked tirelessly saving the animals even to the point of risking their very lives to corral escaped hippos and move big cats to higher ground.  Unbelievable!  Unfortunately, and this is sort of ironic, there were a few casualties…some peacocks and piranhas and tilapia fish.  Yes, FISH died in the flood.  Ironic, eh?  My prayers are now that the giraffe, who stood in chest high cold water will survive.  They apparently are very sensitive to the cold and many of the other animals are very stressed.  Please join me in praying for the staff as they minister to those animals.

So many websites have sprung up over the last few days with people holding bake sales, bottle collection, some children selling lemonade, ANYTHING to help raise funds for flood relief.  Here in my little town of Cochrane, the large grocery stores are “Rounding Up” meaning if you make a purchase you can say “Round Up” and the merchant will round up to the nearest dollar and those extra few cents will go towards the Red Cross.  Doesn’t sound like much, but if EVERY merchant in Southern Alberta did that for the next month, it would raise a significant amount of money!

I posted on my FB page yesterday a link to the Calgary Stampede who, as you know from my blog post yesterday, has adopted the unofficial theme: “Hell or High Water” this year.  No sooner did they embrace that, they created a black t-shirt with that theme and all money raised from the sale of those t-shirts goes towards the Red Cross.  Since Monday, they have raised close to $100,000.00!  So, I invite my readers, whether you live in Alberta or not, to buy a t-shirt.  If you live in another corner of the world, send me a picture of you wearing the shirt and where in the world you’re wearing it and I will post it and tweet it to Calgary Stampede officials.  Would make their day!

Please continue to pray for those affected by this disastrous flood.  Particularly for those hardest hit: High River residents are still unable to return into the town, the Siksika, and Morley First Nation residents, and those fine folk in Canmore, Bragg Creek and Calgary and several other communities up and down the Bow, Elbow, Sheep and Highwood Rivers.