Red Cross volunteers pass out meals and supplies outside of Gates on Sunday, September 20. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
The Oregon State Fairgrounds are empty of livestock evacuated from wildfires, and a nearby warehouse that served as a donation center for evacuees has been cleared out.
But Salem and Santiam Canyon community organizations haven’t stopped helping the thousands of canyon residents affected by wildfires. Instead, many are gearing up for a months or years-long recovery process as they’ve begun moving operations from Salem back into the canyon towns most affected.
“We’re going to walk alongside them all through recovery and rebuild,” said Deana Freres, a volunteer with Santiam Hospital’s service integration team, which helps connect canyon residents to help for food, childcare, housing and other needs.
Since 2017, that team has worked to connect nonprofit organizations and public agencies in the canyon through regular team meetings. The goal is twofold: people needing help can go to one place so agencies and organizations don’t duplicate the services. The team is organized by a coordinator employed by the hospital.
Now, they’re taking the lead on long-term wildfire recovery.
Freres said a conversation with a friend in Gates who lost her home in the fire inspired them to start the Santiam Wildfire Relief Fund to meet needs canyon residents can’t get help with elsewhere.
They’ll use the service integration team to help residents find what they need, whether it’s donated baby clothes or help registering with FEMA. Money raised can pay for recovery needs not covered by other sources, Freres said. So far, that’s included extending hotel stays for families after vouchers from other organizations run out and helping with move-in costs for some families who are now renting apartments.
Freres said the fund has raised nearly $1.2 million toward a $5 million goal, and the service team is working with people affected by fires to assess their needs and find help.
Grants have been mostly small so far, Freres said.
“Eyeglasses left behind at the point of evacuation or dentures. Having prescriptions that were mid-refill. Those are things that require cash upfront,” she said.
United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley last week closed down a temporary center on Silverton Road that had served as a one-stop shop for evacuees seeking help, and is now working with the service integration team to get donations to sites in the canyon where they can be distributed to evacuees, chief development officer Liz Schraeder said.
Laura Plant was among the volunteers helping pack up the warehouse. She connected with the effort through the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salem and said she’d spent nearly every day since the fires helping out.
Plant said being there affirmed her faith in humanity as she watched teachers drop off bags of school and art supplies for kids, families struggling to make ends meet contribute diapers and one girl who wanted to donate her stuffed animal collection to help kids who lost their homes.
“It’s such a tragedy, but then you see such good in people,” she said.
Stephanie Lynch and son Elon sit on the couch in their new RV home in the Retriver Towing parking lot in Salem on Sept. 25. The Lynches lost the trailer they owned in Gates in the Beachie Creek Fire (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)
United Way has also worked with Retriever Towing to help families without homes to go back to get trailers and campers for temporary housing. Schraeder said they’re now relying on the Santiam service team to screen families who need help.
On Sept. 25, United Way CEO Rhonda Wolf handed the title of a donated RV over to Stephanie Lynch, who sat in the trailer bouncing her eight-month-old son, Elon, on her lap.
The family’s trailer in Gates burned down in the fire, and they’d been living in a hotel in Keizer since, Lynch said.
Their new RV home was a little bigger than the trailer they owned before the fire, and Lynch said they had a spot secured at an RV park in Stayton.
Asked how her family is faring since the fire, she said, “Better and better every day.”
How to help
You can donate to the Santiam Canyon Wildfire Relief Fund, administered by Santiam Hospital, here, or sign up to volunteer or donate needed items here. The latest updates on needs are posted on the fund’s Facebook page. Donations to the fund are tax deductible.
South Salem High School students created Stayton and Santiam High Schools Displaced Family Relief Fund through Heritage Grove Credit Union in Salem, which will collect donations through Friday, Oct. 2. Donors can call 503-588-0211 or visit the credit union at 631 Winter Street NE. South Salem Principal Lara Tiffin said she will work with high school principals in the canyon to distribute the funds to students and their families.
Red Cross of the Cascades is operating shelters and meal sites for wildfire evacuees in Oregon and still providing hotel vouchers and housing for those in need, CEO Dale Kunce said. You can donate to the Red Cross or sign up to become a volunteer here.
People with trailers or campers to donate should contact Retriever Towing in Salem at (503) 222-4763.
United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley is currently not taking donated items but is collecting money for a wildfire relief fund and accepting volunteers. More information is on their website.
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Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
