Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Zion steps up to help

Early Tuesday, October 23, Zion Lutheran School Principal Nancy Swanlund and teacher Dan Fischer contacted the Chamber of Commerce and offered the use of our facilities.

We ended up with five firefighters from Arizona on Tuesday evening. Beginning Wednesday we hosted an average of 90 firefighters and 170 National Guard and Air Force troops.

The firefighters were gone by Saturday morning but the Guard stayed through the evening of Monday, October 29. During that time, we conservatively estimate that more than 2,500 meals were served and well over 2,000 showers were taken. In addition, we provided Internet access, a place to watch TV and relax.

I hope that in some small way we were able to show our appreciation for their efforts in battling the fire and keeping the peace.

There are too many who helped to thank in this letter; a partial list would include Lt. Derek Clark and Manny Ortega of the Sheriff’s Department and Bob Leonard of the Chamber of Commerce.

Pastor Mark Demel was a valuable asset; Greg Carle and Gordon Thomas did a lot of everything. When Tina McLeod, Marcy Carle and Lisa Dufresne showed up, we went from a soup kitchen to what the Guardsmen began to call “Operation Fat Soldier.”

Tommy Hoff spent a whole afternoon and evening cleaning showers, laundering towels and providing service without a tip jar in the locker rooms. Two of our women even opened a haircut station on the back deck.

Dan Abeyta of NCFPD fixed a truck for the Guard that kept them on patrol rather than in the parking lot.

Local vendors provided food and dozens of Zion members and Fallbrook residents contributed to this effort. You know who you are and we thank you.

Thank you to firefighters from all over California and Arizona and to the National Guard.

Most of all, thanks to God for sparing lives and for His faithfulness as we at Zion struggled through the process of building the Zion Fellowship Center. It has proved to be a wonderful asset to our community.

God bless Fallbrook as we move forward in rebuilding lives and our community.

Carl Catlin

Zion Lutheran Church

 

Reader Comments(0)