Fireweed Wellness Lodge

02/02/2026

🌿 Volunteers Needed at the Lodge! 🌿
We are growing…and need the loge to be cozy and functional!
We’re looking for volunteers during the week of February 9th to help with:
• Building furniture
• Rearranging spaces
• Light organizing & set-up
🕒 Just a few hours of your time makes a big difference!

You’ll receive:
✨ Special Fireweed/Aunties merch
☕ Coffee & snacks
💛 Good company & laughs
🎁 A Visa gift card as a thank-you!

If you’d like to lend a hand, please reach out through our Facebook/Instagram page or text 587-604-0890.
Many hands, gentle hearts, let’s make this space beautiful together. 🌸

12/21/2025

✨ Sharing an important resource ✨

The Fireweed Project (no affiliation) has launched aftercare kits created specifically to support Indigenous people following an abortion. These kits were shaped by Indigenous voices and are meant to offer comfort, care, and practical support during recovery — whether that experience is recent or coming up.

Care looks different for everyone, and support is valid at any point along your journey.

💜 Who these kits are for:
• Indigenous people (First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit)
• Folks who have had an abortion in the past year or are preparing for one
• Ages 12+
• Living in Canada

📦 Kits are mailed in discreet packaging, with privacy and dignity prioritized.

If you’re looking for support navigating pregnancy options and abortion access in Wood Buffalo, have questions, or just want to talk things through, you can reach out directly through our Aunties Within Reach text line (587-604-0890) or via social media. Support is available, you don’t have to figure this out alone. 💕

12/18/2025

Taking a moment to thank the local businesses who have generously donated this month. Your support makes a real difference and helps us continue this work in a good way. We’re so grateful for you 🌸

12/16/2025

🎄 Holiday Office Closure Notice 🎄

Fireweed Wellness Lodge will be closed for the Christmas holidays from December 22 to January 5, allowing our team time to enjoy a well-deserved break with family and friends. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

🤰 Current midwifery clients: Please contact your midwife directly. All previously scheduled appointments will continue as planned.

🚨 Medical emergencies: Please go to your nearest Emergency Department.

🚐 Medical transport: Contact Athabasca Tribal Council at 780-715-8032 or after hours 1-800-514-7106.

📞 Need support or resources?

• Virtual Indigenous Wellness Clinic: 1-888-342-4822

• Hope for Wellness:
1-855-242-3310

Wishing everyone a safe, peaceful, and healthy holiday season. ✨

12/13/2025

Sharing a great article.

After generations of forced evacuation for birth, Indigenous midwives and communities are bringing birth home across the country. This feature in The Walrus follows Indigenous midwives, families, and community-led education efforts working to restore birth sovereignty and culturally grounded care close to home.

Link for the story in bio: https://aomindigeneousmidwifery.start.page/

12/12/2025

Cold weather is here… and so are our Auntie + Ihkapaskwa Toques. ❄️✨
Warmth, culture, and community, stitched into every piece.

Available in Black or Sage Green, each toque features your choice of:
🪻 The Ihkapaskwa Collective floral crest
💗 The Aunties Within Reach emblem

Made to be worn on the land, in community, in ceremony, or anywhere your Auntie heart takes you.

Soft, cozy, embroidered with care.
Perfect for gifting or keeping for yourself this winter.
Shop our link in bio!

12/11/2025

Congratulations to our CAO, Brandy Hepditch, on being recognized as one of this year’s Top 50 Under 50! 🌟
This honour could not be more deserved. Brandy has been the quiet powerhouse behind so much of our success this year. Her dedication, calm leadership, and unmatched ability to take our wildest ideas and turn them into structure, strategy, and sustainable growth has transformed our organization.
From stabilizing our operations, to helping us expand into Fireweed Wellness Lodge, to ensuring our team is supported every step of the way, Brandy has been at the centre of it all. We truly couldn’t have had the year we had without her.
Please help us celebrate this incredible achievement and the incredible woman behind it.
Congratulations, Brandy. We are so grateful for you. 💛🌿

🌟 Introducing our 2025 Top 50 Under 50: Brandy Hepditch! 🌟
Presented by Lisa Hartigan Coldwell Banker United

Brandy’s drive, leadership and community-minded spirit shine bright — she’s a standout member of this year’s Top 50 Under 50. We’re honoured to feature her as one of the rising stars shaping our region’s future.

📖 Read her full story → https://loom.ly/Ntqb7t8

📚 The 2025 Top 50 Under 50 issue is on stands now!
Or dig in to the full issue online: https://loom.ly/wFVcD9w

Huge thanks to our Presenting Partner, MNP, for supporting and uplifting the next generation of community leaders.

12/03/2025

🌿 Welcome to the Lodge, Christine! 🌿
We are so excited to introduce Christine, joining us through our new partnership with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo as our Landlord Support Liaison!

In this role, Christine will be a key connector between landlords, property management companies, and community housing partners. Her work will help increase access to safe, stable, and affordable housing for individuals and families transitioning out of homelessness—an area that deeply aligns with our values of wrap-around support and community care.

✨ What Christine will be supporting:
• Strengthening relationships between landlords and housing partners
• Coordinating housing placements for those in need
• Providing problem-solving and communication support between landlords and tenants
• Leading outreach and engagement across our region

We are grateful to have Christine’s heart, skill, and dedication contributing to this work. Please help us welcome her with warmth as she steps into a role that will make a meaningful difference for so many families and relatives in our region. 💛🏡

Welcome, Christine — we’re so glad you’re here! 🌺

11/26/2025

✨ Community, we need your help. Please read & share widely, especially with local business owners✨

For 5 years, our Aunties have been travelling across the region to support families with culturally safe perinatal care, traditional teachings, navigation, and community programming. We go where we’re needed, remote and rural communities, long highways, late nights, icy roads, and places where cell service is limited.
And we’ve done all of it using our own personal vehicles.

After years of wear and tear, countless kilometres, and multiple repairs… last night was a scary wake-up call.

Our Aunties hit a deer on their way home after a long day of outreach. Everyone is safe, thank goodness, but the damage is significant, and the reality hit us hard:

➡️ We can’t keep doing this work safely without a dedicated outreach vehicle.
Our grants support the work we do in community, baby supplies, programming, Elders, travel, food, and care.
None of our grants allow us to purchase a vehicle.

So today, with humility, we are asking our community for help.
We are raising funds for an Auntie Outreach SUV or hoping for an in-kind fleet donation from a business or organization who believes in this work.

🚗 A safe vehicle means the Aunties can travel together, reach families safely, and continue delivering land-based care, medicine, teachings, and support where it’s needed most.

If you know a business owner, fleet manager, or someone who works in automotive, please share this post with them.
If you can donate or share our GoFundMe link, we are deeply grateful.
Thank you for helping keep our Aunties safe, so we can continue keeping our communities safe.
❤️ Mahsi cho / Hai hai
If you do not want to use Go Fund Me-we also accept EMT and donations through PayPal!

For the past five years, our Aunties have been walking beside families … Ihkapaskwa Collective needs your support for Support the Aunties with a Safe Vehicle