Offering office space for crisis management
Redemtion Church is offering office space for up to a year for response, recovery, and rebuilding efforts out of their secondary building.
MEDICAL LAKE – The community has rallied to support the residents that lost everything in the Gray Fire, and one church in town is going above and beyond.
Redemption Church, under the lead of Pastor Nick Hawkins, quickly started gathering supplies for people affected by the fire.
According to the church's Children's Pastor, Joshua Russell, the church has opened their doors in more way than one.
"We are working with members of the Salvation Army, the Red Cross and even brought in the Convoy of Hope," Russell said. "Plus, we are stockpiling water and other drinks along with non-perishable foods."
"We have also brought in a considerable amount of clothing, household goods and hygiene items for people to pick up if they need to," he added.
The Convoy of Hope is a non-profit that sends semi loads of resources from Missouri for emergency aid, and they really came through according to Russell.
"Pastor Nick got on the phone with some people he knows," Russell said. "And they had the truck fully loaded and mobilized in two days."
"We had the fire on Friday the 18th, and the truck was here and unloaded by the following Tuesday," he added.
Hawkins said getting the immediate needs filled is important, but it is essential to establish a consistent place where the crisis response can operate from.
So, he offered the church's secondary building for a year.
"This building has three classrooms and some office space that will be perfect for emergency response," Hawkins said. "High speed internet is also being installed and we can then offer wi-fi for people needing that."
They have brought in so many donations in fact, they had to put a hold on taking certain donations because they became overstocked.
According to Russell the church is doing what they can to flex with the needs of the community, but said the are in it for as long as the community needs.
Matthew graduated from West Virginia University-Parkersburg in 2011 with a journalism degree. He's an award-winning photographer and enjoys writing stories about people.
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