ROSALIA, Wash. — It will take time to recover from the pain caused by wildfires that destroyed the Malden community and ripped through Pine City.
Nearby neighbors are committed to helping with that process in a time where everything feels chaotic. They serve as a constant reminder that hope and faith can go a long way.
“Good people are sacrificing and coming together,” said Pastor Dewayne Noel with the Rosalia Baptist Church. “Anything necessary, whatever needs to be done to help their neighbors, help their friends, and help their family.”
The fire that tore through Malden destroyed 80% of the town. Everyone who lives there has been impacted one way or the other, and now they are trying to figure out how to move forward.
While they work to rebuild, they’ll have support from the people of Rosalia that are just a few minutes down the road.
“All of the drop off places in town are full of everything. It’s amazing what people have brought in,” Noel said.
Donations are flooding in from all over the region. Support comes in the form of clothes, food, shelter, and anything that can benefit those who lost property.
It’s reached the point where collections have had to be paused at multiple places in town because of a surplus.
“One thing that it's definitely done for us here, it humbled us even more,” said Deanna Noel. “We had a family come in the first day with some teenagers and all they wanted was some clean underwear to wear.”
Anyone in need can go through the town of Rosalia and find multiple places that are willing to help them. At each location, they’ll be greeted with open arms.
“So when something happens to them, it happens to us,” Dewayne said. “We’re one community and that’s really been a beautiful thing.”