Sprague Fire results in a Christmas silver lining
Matt Folz and Mike Sandel push a cart load of clothes onto a bus.
Glacier National Park’s Sprague Fire had a sliver lining for some less fortunate folks in the Flathead Valley and Browning. Xanterra Parks and Resorts this week donated about $75,000 worth of clothing, blankets and plush toys that had slight smoke damage from the fire.
The items are like new, noted Matt Folz, director of sustainability for Xanterra. The items included Pendleton blankets, gloves, T-shirts, plush toys, sweatshirts and hats that were at the Lake McDonald Lodge. They just need a quick wash. But as such, they can’t be sold as new, so the company decided to donate them to charity.
On Friday, Volz, Mike Sandel and Dave Eglsaer loaded the items up for delivery in big carts.
They were going to be delivered locally to Second Hand Helpers in Kalispell, Garden of Eden in Columbia Falls and the Whitefish Soroptomists.
The remainder would go to the Blackfeet High School where staff were going to put together boxes for needy families. The Sprague Fire burned more than 15,000 acres in Glacier last summer and fall. The fire forced the closure of the Lodge for the last month of the season due to smoke and the threat of the fire.
The lodge was spared from the blaze directly, but it was swamped in smoke for weeks on end.
Xanterra has hired a contractor to clean the smoke smell out of the building a nearby cabins, Volz said. They were working on that this week as well.