By Amanda Fry
DUBOIS, Wyo.,July 29,2016, – Volunteers from the communities surrounding the Lava Mountain fire are gathering at the Red Cross Shelter at Dubois High School to help provide support to evacuees, residents, and emergency responders. Daily meals provided at the shelter have been a vital part of Red Cross outreach.
Currently, Riverton resident Ginny Warren and Dubois resident Prudy Gustafson are organizing the kitchen. Both of the volunteers are former restaurant owners, and both are first-time volunteers for the Red Cross.
Ginny said that the opportunity to help with the Red Cross efforts is a special one for her.
“The reason this means so much to me, is because I was a recipient of the Red Cross’s generosity after Katrina, she said. “When Prudy called and said she needed help, I couldn’t get here fast enough… you get to pay things forward.”
Ginny, whose Slidell, Miss. home and business were destroyed during Katrina, said that the efforts of the Red Cross during Katrina were an enormous help to the community at that time.
Prudy, who is a long-time resident of Dubois, said that the opportunity to volunteer has been on her “bucket list”, and helping her hometown has been especially rewarding.t
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Ginny Warren (left) and Prudy Gustafson discuss
the recipes for the evening meal at the Red Cross
shelter in Dubois on Friday. Photo by Christine
Smith, Dubois Frontier
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“I love our community,” she said. “We have been here 26 years now, seems like yesterday that we moved here.”
Prudy has a lot on her mind lately; in addition to organizing volunteers and preparing meals, she said that on Wednesday, her home received a level 2 “set” warning for evacuation.
For the past few days, Ginny and Prudy have been working to coordinate meal prep for volunteers and organize meal plans, which have been interesting for them, since they are using the wide variety of donated food from businesses in the community.
“It’s a learning-curve, trying to use someone else’s kitchen, and use the food products that have been donated,” Ginny said “It is kind of like the TV show, “Chopped”, you know, you get a basket and have to makes something out of it.”
Both Prudy and Ginny said that they are looking for volunteers to help with meal prep, cleanup and serving.
“What I’m worried about now is getting cooks, and keeping that cohesiveness in the kitchen,” Prudy said.
Shifts for breakfast and dinner meals are open for volunteers. For more information on how to help out, please contact Prudy at (307) 840-0307.