Columbia Falls United Methodist Church leads the effort to help Blackfeet

The Columbia Falls United Methodist Church in the past week has been transformed into an incident command center to funnel food, supplies, feed and firewood to about 15,000 Blackfeet residents hammered by recent blizzards.

The effort started on Feb. 20, said Pastor Dawn Skerritt, after she received a call for help Pastor Calvin Hill of the Blackfeet United Methodist Parish in Browning.

After hearing from Hill, Skerritt began making calls to church members who would be willing to volunteer to coordinate the effort and solicit donations. On Friday, the church was humming with activity as people brought in food and supplies while others manned computers and phones.

Skerritt is the disaster response coordinator for the regional United Methodist conference. She, in turn, contacted the United Methodist Committee on Relief — a national organization that immediately gave the effort a $10,000 grant. Most of that funding has gone toward purchasing logging truck loads of firewood and a wood splitter. Volunteers have been traveling over to the reservation to cut the wood up, Skerritt said.

The relief effort has seen strong community support, with a host of charitable organizations and individuals lending a helping hand. A series of storms this winter have pounded the reservation. Blizzards have blocked roads and remote reaches of the reservation like Heart Butte have proven difficult to get to. Some regions of the reservation have seen 20-plus feet of snow since winter began, including record snowfall in February.

Each day, volunteers have been hauling supplies over by private vehicle. The church in Columbia Falls is the distribution point on the west side. Once in Browning, the supplies are distributed by the Tribe, Skerritt said.

Some supplies have to taken to homes by snowmobile. They’ve also bought calf sleds to haul supplies over the snow. The journey can be treacherous. One volunteer already lost a pickup after it hit some ice and rolled three times. The driver was not seriously hurt, church members said.

People who want to help can drop off items at the Columbia Falls Methodist Church at 117 2nd Ave West Columbia Falls. Volunteers are also needed to man phone lines, load supplies and transport them to Browning. Volunteers, however, are asked to go through the church and not self deploy.

Current needs include durable foods, diapers and wipes, paper goods, feminine hygiene products, feed for animals and pets, canned meat, tuna, peanut butter, Spam, rice, pasta and dried potatoes, bottled water, coffee and small canned goods. Fuel cards for gasoline are also needed.

People can also drop off items at Methodist Churches in area communities like Polson, Bigfork, Lakeside, Kalispell and the United Way in Kalispell. They, in turn, will bring them to Columbia Falls.

Cash donations can be mailed to the Columbia Falls United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 27, Columbia Falls, MT 59912.

Skerritt said the relief effort will likely continue into spring, as flooding is anticipated with so much snow on the ground. Help will be needed with sandbags and supplies if the reservation floods, she said.