Calgary, Alberta — The hail storm that rocked Calgary and its surrounding areas on June 13 caused nearly $1.2 billion in insured damages, according to Catastrophe Indices and Quantification (CatIQ)—inheriting the momentous ranking of the costliest hail storm in Canadian history, and situating itself as Canada’s fourth most expensive insured natural disaster.
In response to the storm, The government of Alberta swept in and provided a Disaster Recovery Program (DRP) for the cities of Calgary and Airdrie, and Rocky View County. ICB also assisted the impacted communities by deploying its virtual Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion (CAMP) to get information and services out to consumers quickly.
However, many community members also stepped up to help those in need. Naeem Hassan, who owns Central Auto Repair Services, teamed up with fundraisers, local businesses, and community members to perform both pro-bono and at-cost glass repairs for those who needed it the most.
Following the hail storm the cost of windshield glass increased and due to COVID-19 many individuals had uninsured their vehicles, said Hassan. Knowing that many people in his community would be struggling to make ends meet, he wanted to ease the storm-created burden by offering free and reduced price glass repairs.
“We helped out quite a few people actually.”
Over the course of a few weeks Hassan and his team provided a total of 25 free windshields to community members and up until recently have offered glass repairs at cost. Additionally, Central Auto Repair Services’ did mobile glass repairs—since many of the vehicle’s were deemed undriveable due to extensive hail damage.
Hassan targeted individuals who were in the most need, and attempted to perform the bulk of repairs for people who were out work, single mothers, individuals who had uninsured their vehicle, etc.
“In the end we felt really good, really, really good that we did something good for our people.”
Hassan has been so busy helping others that he has to fix his own windshield that was damaged in the storm.
“Even for my own personal vehicle it was all broken, I had three vehicles and all of them— front windows, back windows, sunroof— were gone in all three of them. My house windows were broken, there were actually holes through my house windows, I had to cover them up with cardboard.” So, believe it or not I have not fixed my own windshield yet.”
In times of adversity it is easy to hide away, and worry about your own problems, however, Hassan has proved his everyday hero status by putting the need’s of his fellow community members, above his own.
