Tragedy to international aid: Hotel fire in Winkler triggers salvage auction

The furnishings from a hotel in Winkler that caught fire in April are being donated to help people in Ukraine and Moldova.

A fire that ravaged a Winkler hotel earlier this year is having an international impact.

On Aug. 4, bed frames, cabinets, air conditioners and other items salvaged from Winkler’s Quality Inn and Suites that was damaged by fire were put up for auction—generating financial support for those in Ukraine and Moldova.

“It’s been wonderful through this whole process to have been able to be part of this,” said Nathan Elias, executive director of Faith Mission, whose non-profit organization was the recipient of the donated items.

Elias said that after the April fire, the hotel’s insurance provider reached out to see if some of the furniture and loose items that were in the portion that didn’t burn could be donated.

“We agreed to take what we could—some of it was stuff that we couldn’t send to Ukraine as humanitarian aid. So, we agreed that if there were things that we could send, we would send those, and the rest they would allow us to sell as a fundraiser.”

Elias said that in conversations with Schinkel Properties, the hotel’s property management company, the focus has always been to “see how much good we can do out of this tragedy.”

“And as we started with that process of cleaning out that wing of the hotel, we noticed there was a lot of other good stuff that if they’re going to demolish the building, we should be taking out… like the air conditioners and some of the doors,” he said.

“So we spent a few weeks; a lot of hours went into pulling stuff like that out of there. And that all got auctioned off in our auction sale last week.”

Kitchen appliances from the Smitty’s restaurant that was in the hotel were also included in the auction.

The salvaged items from the hotel generated approximately $70,000, according to Elias, which he hopes will impact as many lives as possible.

The non-profit Christian organization was founded shortly after the Soviet Union fell apart to provide humanitarian aid, according to Elias. His parents originally offered their single-car garage to collect clothes.

“And here we are, 31 years later, and we’ve booked [shipping] container number 320 that is going to be loaded this week.”

Elias said he was overseas last month when one of the organization’s shipping containers arrived with humanitarian aid and was able to see the impact firsthand.

“It hits a little bit differently, and it energizes you to keep doing what we’re doing and makes you want to do more.”