Even with the beauty of a blanket of snow, it is hard to hide the chilling reality Dunrobin residents continue to face. But in the frigid fall November weather, there is a trailer along Dunrobin Road that is hoping to warm the hearts of many.

“It’s big,” says Heart & Soul Café and The Heart of the Valley Gift Shop owner Jim Bowen, “I think for a lot of people in the community it’s big too.”

The Heart of the Valley Gift Shop, alongside the Café, was destroyed by the tornado that blew through Dunrobin on September 21, 2018. The Café survived, and has since become a hub for the community to meet and reflect on the tragedy.

“A lot of our customers are the young families in those neighbourhoods and they’re coming back, and we’re seeing the lights turning on, they’re seeing a step forward,” says Bowen, “they’re not as traumatized as they were in week one or week two.”

Now two months after the storm, Bowen and his wife Jodie have re-opened the gift shop in a trailer on the property. Bowen admits the trailer may not be ideal, but its significance for the community is huge, it’s a sign Dunrobin will not only survive, but once again thrive.

“It’s a sign of progress,” says Bowen.

The shop also gets employees like Nancy Belair, back to work.

“I’m so glad to be back at work, to see the familiar faces to wish us well and help us along,” says Belair.

The community could use the help. The tornado destroyed dozens of homes, and the community hub. A small mall along Dunrobin Road, housing Dunrobin Meat and Grocery, a decades old grocery store and butchery, residents feel lost without it. The malls future remains unsure. Bowen can see the boarded up mall from the café, a constant reminder of the devastation.

“You can’t miss it. That building and some of the houses that are still up that have to be knocked down,” says Bowen, “it’s in your face.”

Bowen and Belair know rebuilding will take years. But the store and trailer for them a sign of hope, a sign the community will move on.

“There is some pretty strong people out here,” says Belair, “we will survive.”