How Churches of Absarokee will offer relief from the Derby Mountain Fires.

The churches of Absarokee have developed a plan for the dispersal of funds to help ranchers affected by the recent Derby Mountain Fires of this past August and September. The focus of our relief efforts will be to offer fencing materials to ranchers who have lost their fences from the fire. Specifically the funds collected by the churches of Absarokee will be used to purchase as many steel (1.33 lb./ft.) fence posts as possible and have them be made available to ranchers who have lost fencing to the Derby Mountain Fire.

Applications will be made available to ranchers for them to apply for these steel fence posts at either D and J Feeds or the Beartooth Lumber and Hardware of Absarokee. The criteria for awarding the fence posts are as follows: money raised in the Absarokee community will be made available to those who are Nye, Fishtail, and Absarokee; those who consider this area to be their community and reside in the fire area; they consider Absarokee their primary residence and attend school, use Absarokee businesses, gain their livelihood from the land and live in this area. To the ranchers who apply and qualify, fence posts will be made available to them to help restore their perimeter fencing. Each individual rancher can decide whether they want to use contract labor or volunteer labor for the restoration of their fencing.

Applications will be taken until close of business Thursday, 30 November, 2006. After all the applications have been received, all the qualifying ranchers will receive a given number of steel fence posts until the supply runs out.

The churches of Absarokee feel this is the best way to use the funds raised to help those in need. The money raised cannot replace all the fencing but can help reduce some of the financial burden that restoration of fencing will impose on area ranchers. Neighbors helping neighbors any way possible has been our goal. We as a community work together and help restore our economic viability, so we as a whole can thrive and grow. We are in this together.

First Snow

This morning we woke up to our first snow of the season. This past Sunday evening, we had a fund raising supper to raise funds for Derby Fire Relief efforts to be directed towards ranchers.

Property owners who lost a home can be compensated for their loss with insurance. There is pain, loss and grief associated with this hardship. But they do receive financial compensation. Ranchers on the other hand have lost winter pasture, hay supplies, and fences to the fire. Buildings may not have burned down, but their source of livelihood is directly affected. Ranchers do not have insurance to cover pasture, hay or fences. If the cows are sold off with the calves, the rancher faces a capital gains tax burden and the ranch may have to be sold to finance this tax burden. Or the rancher is faced with having to purchase additional hay for his cattle. But fencing is the big issue. To replace fencing will cost $8000.00/mile and up. The base figure of $8000.00 is for level terrain where pickups and ATV can be used. A lot of terrain is very rugged and will have to be done by people who are part mountain goat and mule to get materials in place and fences built.

The churches of Absarokee came together and held this fund raising supper. As a ministerium we met earlier in August prior to the Derby Fire. After the fire "blew up" we had a prayer service to pray for those suffering from fire damage and the anxiety of not knowing the effects of the damage. After the fire had been contained and controlled - and courtesy of some welcomed rainfall - the fire threat disappeared. Then we were able to sit and think about what we could do as a community to help those in need. We as a ministerium worked on being focused and specific in our mission to raise funds and offer aid. We agreed to help ranchers, as they are the mainstay of the community and our identity as a community.

We organized this fund raising supper. The Evangelical Church (a branch of the Evangelical United Brethren who did not merge with the Methodist Church in 67) offered the facility to have the supper. They have the newest and largest facility to host this event in Absarokee. The Four Square Gospel church furnished the paper products, the UCC congregation helped gather the spaghetti fixings and the Lutherans and UCC folk cooked up the spaghetti sauce and pasta. The Catholic ladies contributed the lettuce salad. The Lutherans furnished the coffee. The LDS members monitored the dessert tables. All members of the various churches supplied help to serve and cleanup tables, and everyone brought desserts. This was one of the tastiest spaghetti dinners held in Absarokee, as we do not have an Italian population or any Italian restaurants in the immediate vicinity (100 mile radius of Absarokee). The desserts were delightful in quantity and array of various desserts. We held our dinner this past Sunday, 8 October, from 4:30 to 7:30. Our goal was to feed 500 hungry and generous people. By our estimates we fed over 350 people. We raised $7975.00. Lutheran Social Service of Montana offered us $500.00 and the Montana Synod and Region 1 of the ELCA offered $1000.00 to be used for the Derby Fire Relief efforts in Absarokee. But I was most amazed at the funds that we received from people from the Delaware - Maryland Synod who contributed to this effort. The responding community to contributed is wider than the community who will be served. I am very grateful and I thank God for those who helped and those who responded out of Christian love and compassion to this need.

To top it off, when Susan and I awoke this morning we saw our first Montana snow. We have about 4 inches and it is still snowing. Snow is the final chapter to the Derby Fire. Snow will completely put out the fire and store the moisture needed for new growth and regeneration of grasslands. Snow is a very welcome sight for us here in Absarokee. Snow is the tomb from which new life emerges in the spring.