Members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul at St. John of the Cross parish in Mississauga, Ont., drove a truck-load of food, bottled water, furniture, clothes and other supplies to the devastated railway town.

Vincentians collected $2,400 and 720 signatures on a giant sympathy card for Lac-Mégantic residents.

The Mississauga group borrowed a 14-foot truck from the Peterborough St. Vincent de Paul store, then picked up extra emergency supplies from the Our Lady of the Airways St. Vincent de Paul conference before heading out to the town 190 kilometres south of Quebec City.

The 800-km drive ended at St. Agnes Church, just metres away from the disaster zone. Tired Lac Mégantic firefighters helped unload the truck and the Ontario Vincentians met their Quebec counterparts. St. Agnes pastor Fr. Steve Lemay accepted the Ontario Vincentians’ sympathy card and assured them it would be read out at Sunday Masses.

On July 6 an unmanned Montreal Main and Atlantic Railroad train carrying light crude from North Dakota cut loose and crashed into downtown Lac Mégantic, killing 47 people and burning down much of the town’s core.