2022 BC Economic Development Award Winner
The Abbotsford Disaster Relief Fund (ADRF) was jointly established by three key community stakeholders, the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, University of the Fraser Valley and the Abbotsford Community Foundation in response to the devastating damage caused by the mass flooding and mudslides in the Fraser Valley and Abbotsford in November 2021. The trio fundraising coalition began the fundraising campaign and granting initiative immediately in November after the floods and created the fund held at the Abbotsford Community Foundation where donations have been collected from regional and international donors. Administration of grants began by the Abbotsford Community Foundation within two weeks of the disaster, first to not-for-profits providing front line and emergency services to those impacted and later in December 2021 through the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce directly to impacted farmers and businesses due to its economic development and support for businesses mandate. As the initiative has evolved in 2022 the ADRF established the impacted contents stream for customers of Big Steal Box which the Chamber is also administering.
Fundraising has involved funds committed from the private sector and other foundations, not for profits and associations and matching contributions. Moreover, donors have come from worldwide.
The Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce is administering the ADRF grant stream to impacted businesses and farmers as part of its partnership with the Abbotsford Community Foundation and University of the Fraser Valley and has granted approximately $500,000 dollars of grants to 100 farmers and businesses to date. The ADRF Coalition has raised over $4 million dollars to date for the local community and in the economic interest of the region, province and country.
Abbotsford is the top agriculture producing jurisdiction in the country on a per-hectare basis will sales of $1 billion per year according to the 2016 census and it also produces 50% of all the milk, chicken, turkey and eggs consumed in the province. The Abbotsford case illustrates the importance of protecting our food supply and of natural disaster preparedness in the interests of the entire province and country.
The project has successfully increased public awareness of the economic significance of agriculture to BC and Canada, and of the productivity and connectivity related to Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley. The ADRF has achieved several high profile media coverages; online, in print, on the radio locally, provincially, and nationally.
The initiative through media communications has also contributed to awareness about the need for upgrades in diking and drainage infrastructure and has supported efforts by Mayor Henry Braun to address these investment needs with the provincial and federal governments.
Collaboration and administration of this initiative is replicable. Chambers, Post-Secondary Institutions and Community Foundations across BC and different jurisdictions can use this as a local business emergency response model for disaster fundraising and emergency business grants. A key lesson learned was the process and pieces related to the establishment and structuring of the impacted businesses and farmers stream, in order to achieve the incentive of being able to provide a donation receipt from a charitable organization and at the same time have relief funding directed to businesses/farmers in a disaster scenario. The importance of community pulling together; not for profits, private sector, citizens and the power of team work were proven once again, after the pandemic and in this instance during natural disaster management and in order to drive economic recovery and resiliency.
The lessons learned include how grateful recipients of emergency funding and other supports are during times of crisis. Words cannot explain the human connection that has been involved in a project of this nature and that the ADRF Coalition, the Chamber Board Directors and myself as the CEO of the Chamber witnessed firsthand when delivering the emergency grants or when communicating and interacting with those impacted. The human element is a huge lesson experienced and learned.