Marson & Marson donate supplies

TAL Holdings donates to

fire victims in Okanogan

Story and photos by Mike Maltais

OKANOGAN – The Okanogan County Fairgrounds was a hub

of activity for nearly two weeks in January where a crew of

volunteers managed to construct 30 10-foot x 12-foot wooden

storage sheds for victims of last September’s Cole Spring

wildfire.

Nearly a dozen volunteers from the Western Anabaptist Mission

Services (WAMS) in St. Ignatius, Montana, arrived at the

fairgrounds in January and over the next 10 days built and

roofed 30 enclosed sheds from donated materials.

Marson & Marson Lumber, with retail stores in Leavenworth, Wenatchee and Chelan, and Lake Chelan Building Supply in Chelan, both owned by TAL Holdings headquartered in Vancouver, Washington,

provided the lumber for the sheds. Three hundred sheets of metal

roofing came from Metal Sales Manufacturing in Spokane.

The Okanogan County Long Term Recovery Group that formed

in 2014 to help victims of the Carlton Complex wildfire and the

following year’s Okanogan Complex wildfire has been busy

coordinating and organizing projects like the WAMS visit and

sourcing donations including the lumber and metal supplies that

made the sheds possible.

The Mission service, whose vision is to “reach out to people in

need and be the hands for Jesus in today’s world,” has helped

communities in Washington, Idaho and Montana rebuild

from wildfires over the past several years.

Even the most efficient operation encounters its share of

bumps in the road. Indeed, roads turned out to be one of those

issues. The first six sheds that went out for delivery were

loaded three to a trailer for their destinations. The combination

of load weight, January weather, and winter road conditions

convinced the delivery crew to resume deliveries in February

when road conditions may be more suitable.

Pateros mayor and OCLTRG Executive Director Carlene Anders

said a last-minute mechanical breakdown disabled the

company truck scheduled to make the metal delivery.

Anders said long-time OCLTRG volunteer Barry Hansen made an

emergency trip to Spokane in late January to pick up the roofing

metal that allowed the WAMS crew to finish on schedule.