Gofundme appeal begun after Sask. village loses only grocery store to fire

A Gofundme campaign has been started to help the owner and staff of a small-town grocery store in Saskatchewan after it was destroyed in an early morning fire on Dec. 31.

The village of Pelly, northeast of Yorkton, lost its only grocery store in the blaze, leaving close to 300 residents scrambling to find a solution. No one was injured.

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Owner Won Lee was with his family in Alberta when he heard the devastating news.

“I was watching a movie, so I put my phone on silent mode because I didn’t want to get interrupted,” said Lee. “My worker phoned me three times, but I didn’t know, I got the message from her of photos of a burning store.”

Lee soon realized it was his store that was burning, so quickly packed his bags and drove nine hours back to the village.

“My emotion is up and done, and I’m crying,” said Lee. “I came and everything was gone, there was nothing but smoke. This is devastating for me and the village of Pelly.”

The building is completely destroyed and Lee is unsure what his future holds.

The Gofundme has a goal of $5,500 and had raised $600 on Monday afternoon. Set up by resident Eric Krochak, the appeal also said a donation box had been set up at the village office.

“It’s too early to tell if I’m rebuilding it or whether I’m leaving,” Lee said. “It depends on the processing of the insurance … I have no plan yet.”

He said that the majority of the residents in Pelly only shopped at his store.

“They cannot even buy milk, they cannot even buy bread (now),” said Pelly. “The people in Pelly, 75 per cent of them are seniors, maybe 80 or 90 per cent of people don’t have a driver’s licence.”

Support from the community after the fire has been tremendous, according to Lee.

“They check up on me every day, they send me texts so many times,” Lee said. “The entire Pelly community was family to me and they treat me like family all the time.”

— with files from Will Mandzuk

Read more:

• Biggar Mayor reacts to arson charges that destroyed small town restaurant
• Community steps up after equipment stolen from Pike Lake fire hall
• Saskatoon fire crews battle truck blaze at Petro Canada warehouse