YMMhelp.com streamlines outpouring of support for Fort McMurray fire evacuees - Action News
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YMMhelp.com streamlines outpouring of support for Fort McMurray fire evacuees

The new website is working hard to make sure your offer of help to those affected by the northern Alberta wildfires does not fall on deaf ears.

Website collects offers and requests for help, then passes info to AEMA and Red Cross

Evacuees from the wildfires in and around Fort McMurray hug at the evacuation centre at the Edmonton Expo Centre in Edmonton, Alta., on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. (Codie McLachlan/Canadian Press)

A new website is working hard to make sure your offer to help the people of Fort McMurray doesn't fall on deaf ears.

YMMhelp.com is gathering pertinent details from those who can assist, and those who need assistance, and funneling it into a searchable database.

"So if the Red Cross needs to know who in some small town can look after pets, we can run a search on that and get them that information," said Emma May, who co-ordinated the effort toget the website up and running quickly this week.

May said the websitewas bornout of necessity because the Facebook page she launched with the same goal to help those affected by the northern Alberta wildfires worked a tadtoo well.

"We were overwhelmed. I think we are now at over a million impressions... It's massive. We have 26,000 likes or something."

Emma May launched YMMhelp.com to make it easier for the Red Cross and AEMA to connect with people who can assist, or need assistance, in the Fort McMurray rescue effort. (@EmmaMayMMA)

She and her team of 15 to 20 volunteers could not respond to all the offers to help.

However, the website allows them to efficiently streamline and organize all the information coming in.

May said it's encrypted and secure because it was built by a team of volunteers from the I.T. department of CanadianNatural Resources.