Sandy Bay sitting on triple-pane windows: Organizers

Donations to help keep Sandy Bay First Nation residents warm are pouring in, but some say they aren't being put to use fast enough and they don't know why.

Many community members are strapping in for a long winter in broken-down homes, some of which don't have proper heat. Housing conditions on the reserve have been in the headlines and circulating on social media since a former resident posted a video of one family's dilapidated trailer in early November.

Gerald McIvor is from Sandy Bay and helps co-ordinate donations that many groups have been making to the community.

He's concerned about a load of around 40 windows that were sent to Sandy Bay from Swan Lake First Nation.

Swan Lake Chief Francine Meeches said she sent dozens of spare windows and a handful of doors to Sandy Bay back in November. The materials had recently been taken out of Swan Lake homes and replaced with newer upgrades, but Meeches said they didn't need to go to waste.

McIvor said they're still in storage and haven't made it out to community members yet.

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GaylorRichard, a Swan Lake resident who drove the cube van full of windows to Sandy Bay, said he just wanted to help.

"It would [have] been nice if they [had] been installed right away [It] sucks that I was rushing to get them out there so they can sit in storage the whole time," he said in aFacebookmessage.

On Saturday,McIvorsent anemailto Sandy Bay Chief Lance Roulette asking for windows to be distributed.

In anemailobtained by CBC, Roulette responded on Sunday to confirm the windows had been received and were going to be given to residents who needed them. Roulette also posted about it on Facebook.

Neither Roulette nor the other members of Sandy Bay council responded to CBC requests for comment by publication time.

ButMcIvorsaid community members shouldn't have had to wait this long.

"What about the dire need now?" he said.

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Thedonations keep coming, such as a truckload of heaters and warm clothes collected byDhillonAutomotive which were expected to arrive Monday afternoon.

"You start something like this and you've prayed, and then all of a sudden you get Good Samaritans coming out of the blue to help us," McIvorsaid.

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The community has received other donations from as far as Toronto and Calgary, said DavidBeaulieu, a Sandy Bay resident who's helping with on-reserve co-ordination.

Groups includingB'naiBrithand the Green AcresHutteriteColony have reached out to him and other co-ordinators to offer donations of clothing and material, he said.

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