It has been six months since Mekayla Bali disappeared. Her family is still searching, still hunting for any clues or information that will lead to her return. They recently held a candlelight vigil in City Centre Park to mark the six month anniversary since her disappearance, and encourage the public to keep searching for her along with them.
Paula Bali says they’re continuing to struggle with the disappearance of Mekayla, and are doing everything they can to search without getting in the way of the police investigation. Â
Paula recently went to Vancouver to search for information and put up posters in the city. She admits that it was a bit of a stretch to go to Vancouver.
“At this point, because there hasn’t been anything concrete to say that Mekayla is anywhere, we’re following up on tips or leads that are not as well established as we would like. There are no confirmed sightings, but we feel that if we don’t follow up on anything and any possibility, I can’t sleep.” Â
The family has also announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to Mekayla’s safe return. The money raised for the reward came through community events, including steak suppers and bottle drives. The Bali family wants to thank the individuals and businesses for their support, whether through monetary donations, helping in the search, sharing Mekayla’s picture and supporting the family at events like the vigil.
“Yorkton’s a small community but they have been so behind us. In terms raising that amount of money, it’s huge, and it happened very, very quickly.”
While it has been sixth month since the girl has disappeared, her mother remains optimistic that this story could still have a happy ending, and Mekayla could return home.
“Optimism is a commodity we have to create lately. We continue to be optimistic about finding Mekayla. The day you stop being optimistic about the search is the day you have to start accepting some things that you don’t want to. I think it’s far too early to accept any negative outcomes that might be out there. I think the onus is on all of us to continue searching.”
