Community holds benefit to support farm family devastated by fire

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Supporters from across the region are expected to attend a benefit in North Gower Saturday night in aid of a Barrhaven family who lost its barns and most of its dairy herd in a fire last month.

The Ruiter family’s three barns were destroyed in the fire at Black Rapids Farm on Sept. 8. Eighty Holstein cows and calves perished in the blaze, which wiped out most of the herd. However, farmer Peter Ruiter still had 10 cows in a pasture across Prince of Wales Drive and another six in a neighbour’s barn.

Firefighters began receiving 911 calls at 1:03 p.m. on Sept. 8. With no water hydrants nearby, firefighters were forced to fight the blaze with a tanker shuttle, using water trucked to the scene.

The farm, on land leased from the National Capital Commission, has been in the Ruiter family since Peter Ruiter’s father, Tinus, bought it in 1962. Tinus Ruiter, ,who came to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958, had worked as a farmhand until he was able to buy the farm.

Peter Ruiter, who is six feet, nine inches tall, was a rookie with the Carleton University Ravens basketball team when he quit to devote his life to farming in 1988. He took over the farm in 1992 and farms with his wife, Rosemary. The couple has three children, Lindsay, Sharon and Mark.

A GoFundMe campaign started to help raise money to support the family has raised more than $52,000 so far. Campaign organizers are hoping to raise a $150,000.

The benefit runs from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday night at the Alfred Taylor Community Centre, 2300 Community Way, in North Gower. The event features a buffet, cash bar, live music and silent auctions. Admission to the event is free.

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