When the garage he had laboured on all winter long blew down in a windstorm two weeks ago, Mike Wick was devastated.
But it wasn’t long before he was blown away himself, by small town spirit and a caring response from his community.
After three months of working with some help from friends and family through cold weather, the Harriston resident had his two-storey garage/workshop ready for a framing inspection.
When the storm hit on March 31 at around 9:30pm, Wick said he looked around outside “and all the trees and wires were shaking, but the shed was still standing.” A few minutes later, he heard “a big noise” and looked outside to find the structure had collapsed in a massive heap of lumber.
“I was beside myself because I didn’t know what I was going to do to clean up, number one, and then fix it,” said Wick.
Some fellow Minto firefighters and other friends offered to help out when he was ready to start the cleanup effort.
“I was expecting maybe five or six guys were going to come out and help me,” he said. “On Saturday morning, they brought soup, chilli and coffee and … 30 guys showed up at my doorstep,” said Wick, noting the contingent included relatives and friends from around town, as well as local firefighters.
“Within an hour and a half we had the whole area cleaned up and by four o’clock we had four walls erected. It just blew me away to find out how many people rallied around me and helped me pick up the pieces. It speaks volumes for this town,” an emotional Wick told the Advertiser following the April 9 work bee.
“I’m just overwhelmed about the support from people around this town because I’m from a bigger town and I don’t think I would get that help (there),” said Wick, who moved to Harriston about 16 years ago. “I’d just like to put out a thank you to everyone for supporting me and helping me out.”
