wfn.org | Presbyterians aid victims of Arizona fire

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Note #7335 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

10-July-2002
02236

Presbyterians aid victims of Arizona fire

Massive relief efforts bring communities and churches together 

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Margaret "Margie" Harper and her husband, Merle, transformed their house into a refugee camp, playing host to 13 people forced to flee their Arizona homes by the largest wildfire in state history.

The recent Rodeo-Chediski fire - two separate blazes that merged on June 23 - charred 468,638 acres of Arizona's White Mountains, destroyed 467 homes and caused at least $28 million in damage before July 7, when firefighters announced at last that they had the inferno contained.

The Harpers, longtime Presbyterians from Springerville, AZ, pitched in to help some of the approximately 30,000 Arizonans displaced by the fire - feeding the 13 people and their two pets, offering support, even providing a recreational vehicle for one family to use during its unscheduled stay.

"This is what we should do," said Margaret Harper of turning her residence into a temporary haven for people rendered homeless. "There was just so much need. They were asking people to supply rooms in their home if possible. No problem. We had the room. It's nice to share."

The last of the fire refugees returned home last week, some after weeks in relief shelters hurriedly established in several Arizona towns spared by the blaze.

The Harpers were among numerous Presbyterians who joined in a massive volunteer effort for the fire evacuees led by area churches, social-service agencies and other organizations. Many of the victims turned up at the shelters with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Presbyterians from Springerville and Payson provided housing and contributed clothing and food for the evacuees.

"It was a community effort, really," said the Rev. Kenneth Moe, executive presbyter of Grand Canyon Presbytery. "It wasn't any one church doing things; the various churches came together to help out. Not just Presbyterian."

Moe said he's been in touch with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) officials, but still is assessing his presbytery's needs.

"I don't think we'll have the full story, even this week, in terms of what the needs are," he said. "I would anticipate that really over a matter of months we'll be assessing needs and seeking assistance ... to deal with the aftermath of the fire."

Moe said no Presbyterian churches were damaged and there were no reports of Presbyterian-related injuries or property loss. 

 From helping the Red Cross to making deliveries for food pantries, Presbyterians and other volunteers were quick to respond to the disaster. 
The scope of the response was no surprise to one Arizona minister.

"If there's a need present, somebody's there to meet it," said the Rev. Jerry Windsor, pastor of Springerville Community Presbyterian Church, the Harpers' congregation. "It's not at all uncommon. I wasn't even the least surprised at the way the people rallied."

Windsor said most of his congregation's 127 members housed at least one person escaping the fire. Some also welcomed cats, dogs and horses.

"I don't know that there was a single person who had a need that wasn't met in one-way or the other," he said. "Any need whatsoever."

Springerville Community church's session voted to open the church to evacuees if necessary.  

"I suggested that it might cost us a bunch of money," Windsor said, "and they said, universally, 'That's fine. Whatever it takes, we'll pay it.'"
He said those who owned horse trailers helped evacuate animals, filling them with abandoned elk and calves.

"Whatever was necessary," Windsor said. "It just didn't seem to matter. ... We even sort of banded together with the Mormons, and we don't have all that much to do with Mormons normally. But this was a community need, not a denominational thing. So we just pitched in and got the job done."

At Community Presbyterian Church in Payson, members contributed items and money, and some took in families displaced by the fire. 

"I would guess that just about everybody in the church helped out in some way," said Brad Bolt, associate for Christian family ministries.

Bolt said a warehouse full of merchandise was donated to the Payson Christian Ministerial Fellowship for disaster relief. The fellowship is a multi-denominational organization composed of members of 35 churches, including Payson Community Presbyterian. 

Supplies collected by the fellowship included food, hoses, rakes, clothes, toys, toiletries - even fingernail polish.

Bolt said some church members volunteered at an evacuation shelter, cooking or distributing food.

"Just helping wherever the need was," he said. "Wherever the Red Cross asked us to help."

Bolt said members also donated goods to a shelter in Payson for animals rendered homeless by the fire. He said a Presbyterian church in Tempe has called about organizing a benefit concert for victims of the Rodeo-Chediski fire.

For 10 days, Reni Brumbaugh, a member of the Payson church, had unexpected company because of the fire.

She and her husband, Danyl, put up her sister's family: husband, daughter, two dogs and seven cats. They were forced out of the town of Show Low, which was evacuated but wasn't destroyed.

"It was kind of more like a zoo," said Brumbaugh, who has two dogs and two cats of her own. "Some of our nerves were a little pinched a few times, but I think things went well, all and all. To see (the community) go back to being so neighborly and opening our hearts and our hands  was very uplifting."
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