McKenzie Outreach

by Olivia Wrede -NHCC Student

In the Fall of 2020, wildfire ravaged communities across the West Coast. Particularly hard-hit was a 24-mile stretch along the McKenzie River. This community was devastated as a quickly moving wildfire ripped through their homes in the middle of the night and caused ash to fall across all of Lane County. Once the fires were put out, the arduous job of clean-up and rebuilding began.

At this point, the students & staff at New Hope

Christian college were invited to help sift the ashes in order to find valuables. One of NHCC’s students, Olivia Wrede, shares her experience in this unique outreach to our community.

“As someone who has been a part of a lot of community outreaches and mission trips, helping to sift through ash out in McKenzie River seemed to be no different. The goal was simple: to help families who have lost their homes in the recent fires and find their prized possessions. I soon realized that this was a very different project than other community outreaches. In what seemed to be like searching for a needle in a haystack, a small team from New Hope sifted through rubble, glass, mud, metal, and ash in order to find something. It was very monotonous and discouraging, and we felt hopeless about what appeared to be an impossible task. There was, however, a spirit of determination in all of us as we were intent on finding something that mattered at each home. Little by little, at each location, the Holy Spirit guided us to things caked in the dirt and ash that looked like nothing, but in fact, was a precious and wonderful find to those who owned them. It was a true blessing to witness God’s gentle grace within this time, to see His Spirit redeem something that did in fact come from ashes.

This was a sobering time for all of us, but I know we would all help again in a heartbeat. We were truly able to see God work and move in so many different ways to understand His faithfulness, His joy, and the gentle grace that blesses all who choose to follow Him. Those families got to experience God that day in a way that they might not have before, and we got the privilege to be a part of it and experience Jesus in the same exact way.”