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The Rockbridge area has long been known as being one of those communities who come together for each other and for those in need of support.
That spirit of caring showed itself once again when several hundred firefighters from near and far came to Rockbridge and Bedford counties to contain the Matts Creek fire in the James River Face Wilderness Area that would eventually reach over 11,000 acres.
We learned early last week from the local Feed the Need Foundation about its involvement, and those of several other entities, in helping to provide a Thanksgiving meal to the over 200 firefighters and support staff still involved in the containment effort on that day. We published that story last week.
What we did not know about until after last week’s paper was printed was that a large number of other people and businesses were involved in providing meals to the firefighters prior to Thanksgiving Day.
Christy Dame explained to us later last week that she and Sarah Reynolds had organized a weekend of donated meals and supplies, starting on Nov. 17. On that Friday night, they delivered a pallet of water donated by Lowe’s, which later offered a tractor-trailer load of water. Also that night, Dame delivered meals for over 100 firefighters donated by Lexington Catering Company.
The next morning, Dame drove to Big Island with a breakfast provided by the Natural Bridge Country Store to feed the Big Island Volunteer Fire Department and Bedford County Fire and Rescue. The country store also fed them lunch that day. Also on that Saturday, the Lexington Domino’s and Frank’s Pizza donated lunch and dinner to firefighters. Chefs Catering donated dinner Sunday.
Many others in the community also became involved that weekend. Donations from area residents that included drinks, water and snacks were dropped off at the Bank of the James and were taken to Big Island. Aramark donated 200 snacks and coffee cups that were dropped off by Reynolds. Columbia Gas donated a pallet of water.
The list of businesses and individuals making donations that would find their way to the firefighters only grew from there. According to Dame’s accounting, the list of businesses and agencies included Food Lion in Lexington, Pure Eats, the Community Foundation for Rockbridge, Alleghany, and Bath Counties, McDonalds, Rockbridge Flooring, Rockbridge Farmers Co-op, Valley Pig Poppers, Subway, Blue Sky Bakery, Globowl Café and Lexington Rx Center. Individual donors included William Knick and family, Susan Wheeler, Ashley and Christopher Gordon, Brenda Hartless, Savannah Chaplin, Brooke Scott, Teresa Braford, Mark and Lori Poston, Adam Sandridge, Murphy Wilson, Christy Panko, Connie Bryant, Samantha Thacker, Pamela Thomas, Rebecca Sorrells, Sarah Dudley and Terry Dame. As noted in last week’s article, Thanksgiving dinner was provided by Lexington Catering Company and distributed by members of the board of the Feed the Need Foundation.
We print this list of donors knowing full well that there may have been many others we don’t know about. If you know of someone or a business who also helped support the firefighters, you’re welcome to send us an email with that information to [email protected], and we’ll include that information in a follow-up story. We have always believed in giving credit where credit is due for good deeds in this area as much as we can. We offer our Helping Hands column on a regular basis to recognize businesses and individuals who help our neighbors, and welcome entries for that.
We offer our thanks to all of those who supported the firefighters as they worked to contain the forest fire, as well as to the firefighters themselves who spent long days on the fire lines and nights away from home. As Christy Dame wrote us, “The Forest Service and all who aided with the fire were amazing and we thank them for everything and keeping all the structures, homes and people safe.”
