|
|
The readiness to help has hurdled faith lines in the response to the wildfires crisscrossing Oklahoma.
United Methodists are standing at high alert alongside other faith groups as a drought lengthens and the state’s infamous winds swirl. The response of the Oklahoma Annual Conference churches at Davis and Seminole as well as by the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference provides insight into what it means to be good neighbors in a time of danger and extreme need.
The chain of fires has killed two people, destroyed 250 homes and consumed more than 400,000 acres since Dec. 26, and wildfires also have raged in Texas and New Mexico.
Seminole and its surrounding areas were devastated by major wildfires that have been sweeping across the state since Christmas. Inter faith Social Ministries is providing help to the victims. The alliance’s primary partners are Baptist, United Methodist and Catholic.
“Most of the work that’s done here is the community working together,” said Gary Wilburn, pastor of Seminole United Methodist Church. “I went to the pastor of First Baptist and said, “Do you realize what it would do for the community to see you and me working together?’ We had already started doing that when the fires came.”
After the fires, Lions International donated $7,000 to be distributed as $150 vouchers for clothing, food, or medicine through three local Lions clubs, Wilburn said. Seminole United Methodist Church members also volunteer on the board of the local food bank.
“We have not had a home lost among our church members, but we have had several of our ranchers who lost their pastures and their hay, and one lost some vehicles. Some animals died in the fires or had to be put down,” Wilburn said.
The Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference’s Disaster Response Program has been helping two families recover after wildfires devastated their lives the day after Christmas, said the Rev. David Wilson, conference superintendent.
The Rev. Kelly tiger, 69, pastor of Hilltop Indian Presbyterian Church in Wewoka and a well-known personality in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, died after suffering burns sustained when fires broke out near his home in Holdenville. The blazes destroyed the home, and nothing was saved, Wilson said.
Betty Tiger-a cousin of Kelly Tiger’s-lost her home and belongings in the same fire. She is a member of Salt Creek Indian United Methodist Church.
“Our conference has been impacted by the wildfires, especially by the loss of the Rev. Kelly Tiger and the loss of two homes by two of our Methodist Church families,” Wilson said. “While Tiger was a Presbyterian minister, he was well-known in the conference, and we are pleased that we can play a role in helping the families get back a sense of normalcy.”
Assistance to the families is also coming from the Muscogee Creek Nation and Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. They are working together to rebuild the houses, and construction has already started on both homes, Wilson said. The conference will furnish the homes and help with other needs that the tribes and the Federal Emergency Management Agency won’t cover. Norean Tiger, Kelly Tiger’s wife, is Creek, and Kelly was Creek and Seminole.
“The families lost everything and will be in need of all kinds of items to begin their lives in their new homes,”said Phillis McCarty, director of the conference’s disaster response program. “We want to help them in any way possible.” The disaster response program provided a limited amount of funding immediately after the fires to members to help with immediate needs.
“We are thankful for our response program because it helps serve its purpose in times like these,” Wilson said.
|
|
