THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF COLORADO
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I hereby give to the State Historical Society of Colorado, for its use and benefit, without restrictions as to use or dispostion (except as noted above), and including all literary and property rights, the ·propert described above. Date ____ ~z_·---~-~f~---~7~b~--
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Date S i g n a t u r e
September 28, 1976 Interviewer: David McComb M: This is an interview with Captain Bill Birks. I'm at the Salvation Army on Larimer
Street in Denver, Colorado, the date is September 28, 1976, and my name is David McComb.
We need to talk a little bit, I think, about the Salvation Army. And let me ask you, first of all, what kind of preparation, general sort of preparation, do you make for disasters before you ever hear about one? I know you've got a
can-teen truck that you keep supplied. B: Right.
M: Is that correct? B: Yes, it is.
M: That's the kind of thing I'd like to know about. What is the background prepar-ation that you do?
B: Well, basically each core area, each city or area like this is set up, they have the small disaster units that they either run out of their core vehicle such as a station wagon or a van or something like this, and then we have emergency
disaster vans, which is what we use for the Intermountain Division, which actually, if there was-a great disaster, we would cover Utah or Montana-or portions of
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and we could be called in on other disasters. For instance, some of the disasters in other nations, Guatemala and that, we have flown disaster units from our other cities to there to set up and work there. M: Denver is what, the central city for district?
B: Denver is our divisional headquarters. Each area of command is set up in a division. The Salvation Army is structured on a military basis, so we have a territory which covers from Colorado to San Francisco, or to California, and
,~ncludes Alaska and Hawaii. This is the western territory. M: Is Denver the center of that territory?
B: No. Denver is the city of the Intermountain Division~ a division of tha,t territory. He have the Northwest Division~ which covers Washington and Idaho and parts of that area; then we have also Southern California, Northern
California, the Southwest, so each territory is divided into certain divisions, and within those divisions is set up with an officer in charge, who is Colonel [Robert J
J
Ange 1.M: He's the one in charge here.
B: He's responsible for everything within the Intermountain Division, right, And then under him is a divisional secretary, who is Major Mervyn ~1orelock.
And he's what you might say, second in command, or responsible i f the Colonel is out of town, or certain aspects in this. But the main officer in charge is Colonel Angel.
~1: I see. Okay, within each division, such as the one in Denver, you bave~eme17gency
vehicles, or what?
B: In most of our areas, yes. We do have a disaster van of one type or another. M: Okay. What do you put in the van?
B: Well, we stock the van with such things as, basically the inside is fixed up so that we can make coffee while we're out, we have lights, we have a portable generator, which has been donated to us through the fire department here; also within there we have shelves, icebox, a refrigerator so that we can store food.
For instance, if we're not able, like we were ~bl~at the Big Thompson, to purchase food locally, we do roll with food stor·ed in the vehicle. We have sandwiches, rolls, doughnuts, coffee, punch ....
M: Okay. How do you keep that fresh?
B: We have a refrigerator. Until w~ get to a certain area, we usually put it on ice, or in some of our units, we have types of refrigerators that work off
gas. The canteen that we use here~.-we call them canteens-~that we use in the run from the metro area, the shell of it was donated, basically the vehicle itself and some of the ·inside, the Fort Collins Salvation Army. And it has been remodeled several times inside by Harley Cook of our Men's Social Service Center~
and so with the time and everything else that he's been doing1 welve gradually
gotten it to the point now where it's a little more feasible. \~e hope someday in the distant future, in the future, to somehow obtain a canteen that would have everything up to date. But until that time, in order to provide the
service that we feel the community needs, or a community needs, we1re using this
particular van.
M: Okay, a little bit more background. The Salvation Army has,at least the way I see it as an outsider, a sort of a multiple mission. That is, help in emergencies, but also maintaining places like this, for the help of the indi-gent and other people, travelers, and wayfarers and so forth. Run clothing shops.
B: Yes.
M: And also religious services. B: Yes.
M: You have all of these different sort of missions. B: Right.
M: Is that correct?
B: Right. We have a complete certified alcohol rehabilitation and drug rehabil~
itation program at Men's Social Service Center, located on Broadway. They also are responsible for the clothes that are donated, the store. The only monies that they receive in order to continue their program is through the items that are purchased through the store or special donations that are made. But they receive no United Fund money, or anything else to support
them. This program is kind of like a Halfway House for them and also it's a feeding pro.cess for the men on the street.
M: This is Harbor Light?
B: This is the Harbor Light, right. We run a meeting every night of the week, where we feed, and we have t~i s spiritua 1 meeting as \'le 11 , for the men on the street. There are no strings attached or as far as a charge or anything else, Some of them wish to make donations, which helps them because it gives them the feeling they're not really, you know, just being handed something, M: Right,
B: w.e a 1 so have what used to be the Booth Memoria 1 Hospita 1 . And due to the atmosphere of the present society, the unwed mothers' home has gotten to the point now where it•s more of a girls~in-crisis program. So that they get girls directly from the Court, and they live in. We also have many senior citizens' programs. These are all in the metro area. We also have a Family Service Program, which we take care of families that need clothes, food, furniture, and other items, or sometimes medical help, if they need this, M: Yes. The s·alvation Army•s a little bit confusing, at least.in my mind, The
emergency part of it has apparently sort of a national political endorsement that you are an official sort of disaster unit to go in. Is that right? B: We have just been recognized for quite a while. There•s only a few that are
actually recognized. M: The Red Cross is one.
B: Red Cross is one. Yes,1 think there•s one or two others. We ha,ve been officially
"
recognized, with the Red Cross now, that we, too are officially an emergency disaster organization, vJhere we can go in under federal ruling and direction and set up in a disaster. Even though wetve been doing it for, since the structure of the Army, you might say.
M: It's nice to be recognized in your own time, isn1t it? Gaughing1.
B: Oh, yes.
· M: Well, does that mean that you can get some federal funding to help support this?· The emergency aspect of it?
B: I imagine. Now, I am not re~lly completely familiar with this due to the fact that the financing of the overall program is run through our divisional
a
headquarters. We have man, I mentioned our divisional secretary, well, we
1\
have another person that's in charge of the youth programs for the Inter~
mountain, and then we have one person that we call our Divisional Finance Officer, Captain WobertJ Pontsler. And he's responsible for all the finances as far as making sure that our books are up and that the divisional books are taken care of and the money's taken care of within the divisional head-quarters. So this would be run basically through him.
M: Okay, letts talk the Big Thompson a little bit, When did you first hear about this?
B: Well, we had just walked in the door, we hadn't really known about the Big Thompson flood, when we received the call that there was a flood in Big Thompson.
M: When was this? Saturday night? B: This was~~right, Saturday evening. M: July the 31st.
B: Right,
M: And who called you?
B: I received the--we have a working togetherness with, that whenever the Social is called, they have the main phone, and then they contact me, and one other officer, Lieutenant {Bober{} McEaneney, and I received the call , we 11 , he ca 11 ed
here to the Harbor Light. The Harbor Light contacted me and said that there is trouble in Loveland, and that we should be prepared to go,
M: So he must have gotten the call from someone,
B: We, he received the call from the law enforcement agency there in Loveland. M; Sheriff's Office~ then, probably.
B: Right. And with that, Harley Cook, Mr. Cook, who is the one I mentioned, immediately got some of the men on the program at t·1en's Social Service to start readying the truck and the canteen and they departed, but prior to departing, they called here, who in turn notified us that the truck was on the road.
M: Okay.
B: And when that happened, then they received the call around 10:30, 10:15, I think it \t.Jas. And then by 11:30 we had 1 eft, stopped here and pi eked up extra supplies, and met the truck there at the command center on the edge of the Big Thompson.
M: Okay, then you drove from here to there. B: Right.
M: Okay, why would you go personally? Why wouldn't you stay here with the Harbor Light mission? Why would you take off as an individual?
B: Well, I think we find it true with any of the Salvation Army officers, and in the event of a disaster, this is just part of our calling, to help those in
need.-M: You'd better get there, huh?
B: Right. And even though I'm responsible, you might say, for the canteen, I still feel a personal obligation, that you never know, someday you might be on the other side of the fence. You know, one hand helps the other. That's really what we're in it for, is to help the community and help the people.
canteen, then?
B: Yes. We, Lieutenant McEaneney and myself went up immediately upon, after getting the supplies, the extra supplies, that we picked up from here, and we met the canteen at the command center in Love 1 and.
M: Was that the Merri-AX?
B: Right. That was at the Merri-Ax. They were just setting up when we arrived, From that point ....
M: How did they know where to go, by the way? You mean, driving in, there's a lot of confusion.
B: Well, when they arrived, they asked for the command center. M: I see.
B: Because with our disaster, we usually try and get as close to the actual involvement in the heart of the program that we can.
M: I see. Yes.
B: And they were directed, with no problem, to Merri-Ax, and when they arrived there, they were shown exactly where to set up and so that it would be con ven i en t for everyone.
M: So there's no hassle when they see who you are. B: Right. We don't have any problems, fortunately. M: Yes, they welcome you with open arms, I imagine. B: Right.
M: Okay, so then you went to the Merri-Ax. B: Right.
M: Set up' there?
B: Right. Then when they asked, the crew that had taken the van up there, they stayed for a while and then they returned with the information that they
needed blankets and a few other things, so, when they arrived back here, they started the wheel in motion as far as obtaining some bread and some blankets and other items that were needed up there.
~1: Yes.
8: Lieutenant McEaneney and myse~f stayed there and manned the canteen, and one other gentleman franthe Social. Then we came back for supplies, and another crew, Captain lWi 11 i am] Standley, and a few of the other 1 oca 1 peop 1 e here, maintained it, and moved the canteen when the command center was moved, from Merri-Ax to the main center where ....
M: Water Conservancy District Building. 8: Right.
M: Yes.
8: And from that point on, that's where we stayed, with the main canteen, M: And serving coffee.
8: Right. We served coffee, sandwiches, we served doughnuts, we served soup, served punch, we served hot breakfasts.
M: Yes, that'skind of an interesting thing. Do you try to serve meals on a regular basis, or do you just sort of stay open all the time?
8: Well, normally, when we set up at a disaster, we're open as long as they want us. We'll stay there, and we're open.
M: Twenty-four hours.
B: Twenty-four hours a day. To us, there's a need 24 hours a day. If one person comes in, and we happen to be closed, and then they needed a hot cup of coffee, or they needed something to eat, then we would feel as the Salvation Army, that we failed if that one person went away empty or empty-handed. And we run most of our other facilities the same way.
We had an arrangement with another religious group up there that we would serve breakfast and they would serve lunch, so we ....
M: Was this the Seventh-Day Adventists?
B: Right, the Seventh-Day Adventists. They were parked right next to us. So the two of us were actually covering the area there for a period of time,
M: That raises an interesting point. I know you and the Red Cross can do much the same sort of thing and are sometimes interested in doing it, and here are the Seventh-Day Adventists, too. How do you split up the work?
B: Well, usually it's not really that difficult. It seems like there is, but the main thing is there has to be a willingness to work with whoever else, and the name of the game is just ~Y help the person that needs help. So when they contacted us and said that they were interested in helping or, you
know, they had a van, they'd help, it just, everything else just kind of fell in place. They said, "We can do this, this, and this," and we said, "Fine, and we'll do the rest of the items that fill in the gap." They moved at a later time, from the command center down to one of the heliports and set up basically in the heliport area. But until that time, we ....
M: You just shared the responsibility.
B: Shared the responsibility, shared the food, shared, we gave them some of our stuff and they gave us some of their stuff. It was just real working to-getherness.
M: Okay, what about the Red Cross, then? How do you divide up the work load? B: Well, when we were there, since we were there at the basic, you might say,
shortly after everyone else was there, the Red Cross, when they arrived, they set up their command headquarters in the High School. They served the families that came in there either seeking someone or needing some clothes
or items like this, s.o anyone that came to us, we said, 11t4ell, we'll refer
you to the Red Cross,11 and that's how we just maintained it. They referred
everyone to us that was in our area, and we referred everybody to them that needed clothes or things like this.
M: Did they handle the clothes, or did you supply the clothes?
B: Basically, the clothes came in in carloads. And they, with the
high school, with school there, they were set up to the point where they could really hang them up and distribute better. So they took care of that.
M: Were they your clothes? I mean, from the Salvation Army sources, or?
B: There were some clothes that were said that they'd like the Salvation Army
to have. But due to the fact, and they mentioned for the Big Thompson disaster, . well, due to the fact that the Red Cross had already set up this structure,
we went ahead and gave them clothes. It, at the site, now, we served several people here that had arrived in Denver, and we gave them clothes, we gave them airplane tickets home, and things like this. They were checked out to make sure that they weren't on the missing list, or we did keep a list of the
people so that we could, you know, we wouldn1t be shipping someone out of town
that they1re looking for. (Laughter).
M: Okay, so basically, thEn, the Red Cross takes care of the Loveland, the high school,
B; Right,
M:
You take care of the Water Conservancy District.B: Well, actually, no, Our vehicle was on the road. M: Oh~ it was?
B; Oh, yes, I personally drove the vehicle up to the road guards, the heliport was set up as a temporary receiving area,,.,
M: So you1re mobile.
B: Oh, yes.
M: So you1ve got your canteen stationed, but you also have a mo~le unit.
8: Oh,''yes, and in the back of my van I had sandwiches, breakfast, that we just carried in metal containers and that, so that the people on the highway and the people at the other end that, you know, the other end of the road guards and that, would be able to get something too.
M: That makes sense. Makes obvious sense, that you would be mobile to take it to them, since a roadblock can1t move.
B: Right.
M: But who would think of it? Did this just occur to you that you would do this, or?
8: It1s just one of the services that we felt should be provided. We heard that
the road guards were out.
How it came about was one night, it was chilly up there, and the road guards, we1d heard that they were out, and one particular road guard, we1d
heard, wasn1t able to get anything to eat. So from that, I loaded the vehicle
up. I happened to put pop, milk, and all these items in it, and I found out that most of the road guards were really neglected. Once they get out there they1re there until they get relieved. And in many cases if the situations
arise, they have to stay there and take care of the roadblocks. And that was during the time that some of the people, observers and that, wanted to go in some of the back roads and that, so that they were very particular as to, you know, the road guards, making sure they stay there. So with us coming around, they at least were fed, and during a hot day they were given pop, and they had coffee and that.
M: ·what do you do--make rounds a couple of times a day, or what?
B:
Oh, no, a couple of times an hour.M: Is that right? B: Oh, yes.
M:
So you were just constantly moving, then.B: Oh, yes. We'd come in for maybe fifteen, twenty minutes, maybe thirty minutes, we'd restock, go back up.
M:
So you just kept going.8: Right~ just kept going. And when I wasn't doing it, there were other officers
that were doing it. When they set up the temporary receiving center, out
)
by the dam site, I was the one that went up and started serving them there, In fact, just for kicks, the men from the Sheriff's Department were giving me a bad time about helping them. So I took ten or fifteen minutes and helped them try to set one of their tents up there where they had to stay in, but it was really, even though it was a disaster and you know, the bad feelings that people have in times 1 ike this, we enjoyed the fell ow-ship that we received, the Salvation Army officers and the Salvation Army
personnel~ from 'the dealing with the Sheriff's Department and the State
Patrol. It was really kind of refreshing for us, too, because we got to the point where we could joke with each other or something, and take some of the pressures and some of the thoughts that a person thinks at that time.
M: Yes, Wo·uld you explain that a 1 ittl e bit further? What do you mean by thoughts that a person thinks? Did you kind of give them a chance to talk, or what;?
B: Right. It kind of gives them a chance. I'm a father of five children. And many of the people that were involved with the receiving center, they're
fathers. And to bring a child in from the flood that had been drowned, or a mother, or something like this, it hits home, it hits close to home, to the fact that could be your child, or that could be your wife, and so it kind of gave them a chance to relieve some of the pressure that was on. There were times when we were asked spiritually to talk with people and deal with people, .Which we were ready, and we didn't really care.
We feel, regardless of whether they're Catholics or Jewish or Protestants or who they are, if they have a spiritual need, then it should be met, And although we don1t try completely to meet the complete need, we give them
something to think about, and then refer them to someone of their own denom~
ination.
M: Do you have a specific example in mind of an incident or something in the Big Thompson of a spiritual need that you ... ?
B: Well, there was one person that, a kind of a strengthening, a mother and father had come from California. And their children were in the area, and they had come to our command center, and they had said that, you know, they, in come cases, they couldn't understand why it happened,
M: Right.
B: But at this particular time, then you try and give them spiritual guidance as to, you know, itt s not an exact, ...
M: What would you tell a person? What did you tell them, for example, I mean, would you say, ''This is God's will," or how do you administer to some.,.. thing like that?
B: Each case you have to deal with individually. This particular case I was referring to was dealt with by Major Morelock. They happened to speak vlith him. But the overall basis, you would try and counsel them to the point where they realize that as some of them automatically fee 1 when something
happens, ''God doesn't 1 ove me anymore." M: Right.
B: ''Why would God do this to me?"
M: Right. Or "What kind of God is that that would do this?"
B:
Right, that would do this. Whereas, if you look at the other side of the picture, as to well, maybe through this particular happening, how many other souls are going to be touched, or how many people are going to be affected to make them realize the seriousness of something, and, you know, we talk about the Second Coming and the day that He comes.All right, people say, nwell, there's plenty of time," How much time really is there? How many of these people were really prepared or had time to prepare themselves? But the thing that people put off, and this is just some of the involvement that comes out.
M: I see. Would you, as a unit, again, this kind of harks back to the prep~
aration, would you as a unit be able to administer to something like last rites of another religion or something like that?
B: In some cases, we are covered to the point where we will pr~y over the person and items like this. As far as being able to do it exactly as the other,
it would be difficult, becau:;e some of us aren~t really trained in that field.
M: Yes, I see,
B: E:ut as far as prayingfor them or dealing with tneir soul there or dealing with the family, this is what we're trained to do in our training college\ We go through two years of training before we~re actually sent on the field,
And many cases, we aren't sent in command then, We go to another area where there's another officer that•s been on the field for a while, as ·what
we say, and learn from their experiences and from their guidance in order to help.
M: Okay, there's another side of this coin. How do you, since you have this
religio~s, spiritual orientation, how do you keep from being obnoxious?
I mean, you know, some of these people come in, are going to be Jewish, or some other faith or no faith at all. They're not going to want to hear something like that. So what do you do about that?
B: Well, first of all, we don't push.
M: Okay.
B:- We believe that you can't really push your religion on a person, but be ready to help them.
M: If they ask.
B: If they ask.
M: Yes. Of course, you are, I suppose, in a way, giving testimony by your action.
B: Right. There1s a saying that, "I can hear you because of your actions,"
111 can hear what you. say because of your actions,'' And we firm-ly believe
this, and in fact, it's really carried on from Colonel Angel. In his ex-ample of it, in his guidance, and directive, direction for the officers, and the soldiers of the Salvation Army in the Intermountain Division\ He firmly believes that he doesn't have to tell people he's a Christian, Or he doesntt have to tell people he's saved, His actions will tell them, Now if he does something shady, then automatically, you know, they'll question, But due to the fact he doesn't, he's won the respect and admiration of all the
Salvation Army personnel involved,
actions," is that it? B: Right.
M:
That means your actions are speaking for you?B: Right. That means that your actions are speaking louder than what you would say by mouth.
M:
Okay.B: And you can use this in any field of life. If you profess to be a leader of. some type, and you're doing all the shady things and that, then they
aren't going to listen to what you say-, because they can see what you're doing.
M:
Okay, and in this background of the officers and so on, you're given training along these lines.B: Oh, yes.
M:
I mean, you must have classes or meetings or something in which they say~11If you have a disaster, here's what you might run into,"
B: Well, they give us the basic idea of our disaster program. Really~ for in~
stance, the fires. All two-alarm fires and above, we roll here in Denver,
M:
With the canteen again?B: With the canteen. And if they want us on just a normal fire, we"ll roll for that.
M: You'd be notified by the Fire Department.
B: Right. And throu~h this, each incident has to be treated on an individual basis, because sometimes they might just set up for a few minutes for just coffee and rolls, or then again we may go and stay for quite a while? such as the Big Thompson.
M: Right. Okay, that gets us back to the Big Thompson, You mentioned sort of the comradeship between you and the Sheriff's people and the poltce and other rescu:e units. Is that unusual in disasters?
B: We don't like it to be unusual, I don1t know, I guess basically the Sal,...
vation Army is not a glory hound, if you want to call it that, Due to the fact that we want to go in and wave our banners and everything else, be-cause that's not really the basis.
Each officer is called to a ministry, and it's basically through this dedication and through this calling is why we want to help others. So it's been said that our PR program is not really the greatest. Because of the fact there's no big articles or headlines or anything else. But usually, we're there, we're there, usually, and we feel that somewhere along the
line, people will know what we're doing, or what we're actually there for. M: Were the rescue workers and so fo'fth pretty cooperative from \vhat you
ob-served?
B: Yes. I thought re~lly, in the confusion, and what a place of confusion can be there, it was very we 11-organ i zed.
For instance, that first night, they had horsebacks and the others mounted and ready to go. Other than the weather, if the weather had not
been so· bad, the he 1 icopters would have gone in and pi eked those off the cliff earlier than what they were able to do. So I really thought it was well-organized. We sent coffee, sandwiches, and other items with the rescue squads and groups that went up into the hi 11 s, and when they would come back or b~ brought back, then we would refill them and recharge them and then send them back up. But I thought really, over all, it was very well-organized.
M: Yes, okay. How about the condition of the rescue workers? As time went by, I would think in that first forty-eight hours they'd be running down.
B: There were many that were tiring, but there were many that felt a rea,l in-volvement, a necessity to push through, you know, it had to be done, had to~
their sleeves up and went to work together.
M: I see. Did you try to set up any places to sleep there at the command headquarters?
B: There was already. We were in their garage, and on the other side of our canteen, when the National Guard came in and that, there were sleeping bags and other items that they, when the National Guard was there, they were able to rest there. While some of the rescue squads that would come in, a few of them would sleep over there. The rest of them, some of them went up in the hills and stayed there until, you know, for two or three days, and then came back.
M: Yes, right. You went down there, you were there the first night, and how long didyou personally stay there?
B: Well, the first night or just off and on?
M:
Off and on. I mean, what did you do?B: I was there until the day we closed up.
M: And you'd come back to Denver to change clothes and sleep?
B: That's right. Well, I would come in--my kids gave me a bad time about this. I would leave there late at night, get home maybe one, two o'clock in the morning. And I would be up at at three-thirty or four in the morning and
head back up for .... M: That's not much sleep.
B: No, there wasn't much sleep. That was just--usually, after the, third day or so, was really when, you know, you were able to take a break for a
couple of hours or so. But driving down was an hour and driving back up was an hour, so ~~ but I don't know, I feel the Lord sustained me through it,
--.___ I.' ..
B: ··About that.
M: But somebody else was driving; you could catch a cat nap on the way back, B: But I drove.
M: (Laughing), Oh, my. So you were, you went, what, t.hree days, then, without much sleep.
B: About three days, right. I think we figured it up, and I had maybe four or five hours sleep within the three days.
M: Okay, at the end of that, what did you, I mean, were you starting to get edgy, or, fa./1 asleep every time you sat down, or what? ~/hat did you feel 1 ike?
B: No, not really. Well, I tried to keep myself going so that I wouldn't~
fortunately, I've been, ever since, even in the service and everywhere else, I've been able to sit down and maybe ten minutes is all I need for a nap, and I can go for hours again, so at times like this, it pays off, because I, when I arrived home, like I said, finally when I got to bed, about an hour, hour and a half, two hours, was long enough for me to go for another period of time.
M: Okay, and how long did you stay up there, then? I mean, the canteen? B: Well, the canteen, let's see, it was, I think it was eight days. M: That's probably about right. All that next week.
B. Right. It was all the next week into the following--we closed up, finally~
after the sheriff had said that he didn't feel that, you, we were needed anymore.
M: Okay. So it's the sheriff's decision, then, that sets you loose, then, to come back to Denver, basically?
we were directly under the shedff's command, M: I see, and yciu'd do what he told you to do?
B: Oh, yes, and even to the point of we would clear, I made it sound like we just hopped in the vehicle, and took off, but I cleared it with the Sheriff's Department and the State Patrol.
M: Sure.
B: First, but it was during the eight-day stay that we were there, the canteen was open twenty-four hours a day.
M: Okay, and then you'd bring the canteen back here, I suppose, set it up for the next emergency, whenever that might be,
B: Right. Oh, yes.
M: Okay, there must have been some residue, residual action left over from Big Thompson, that is, people needing to get home, you mentioned some people coming down here that were supplied with clothing and airline tickets, How long did that go on?
B: In some cases, we're still making contact. M: Is that right?
B: Yes. We have, in the Salvation Army structure, even though a Salvation Army Corps is not in the city itself, we have what we call a Service Extension. which is basically an extension of our services. All of our services. We don't limit any of them. And in Estes Park, for instance, we had our Service Extension in effect during the flood and as well, she 1}1rs. Georgia Tomso!}] still, in many cases, is involved in some of them.
M: Well, I know the Fort Collins office has carried some of that stuff. B: Right. That1s another one.
----clothing, they did some of that.
B: Right, Right. And he would be in a position there where he would help them, Also, Greeley might possibly be involved with it, The corps there\ These are our b'asic corps centers. Then Denver, making it kind of a triangle. Right within the area. And this would be the basic three areas that would be
involved with it, other than Estes Park.
M: Yes. I assume that the Denver office sort of took the workload of that Big Thompson, rather than, say, Fort Collins, because you had the resources. B: Right.
M: I mean, you had the van, you had the supplies, you had,,,. B; Right.
M: The divisional headquarters, and so forth that you'd work with,
Okay. Do you have any idea how many people you served? Therets something in here about the numbers of cups of coffee and so forth? B; I can give you what we have ... these are approximate.
M: Okay. Sure, They would be.
B: The canteen services provided over 5,000 cups of coffee, 25 dozen doughnuts, 5,500 cold drinks, 1,000 hot and complete meals, 10,300 sandwiches to an estimated 14,300 people. And at the Center, over 400 persons were helped by a case work team. These are the team that would go in and work with the others, strictly the Salvation Army, now, team, but they helped with food, clothing, medical supplies, gas, airline tickets to stranded tourists and even front-end alignment for a damaged car.
M: You mean you~d send in a casework team to talk to victims to see what they needed.
B: Right,
B: Right, and this was in conjunction with some of the other agencies that sent in the teams to help. This is what our workload was.
M: That's quite a bit. Did your casework team, then, work out of the high school, Loveland High?
B: Yes, they worked in the same area. Now that was just by ours. Now, in Estes Park ....
M: Yes, okay.
B: Again, you go to the, another set of statistics. M: Right.
B. Under her U1rs. Susan Mardock, Salvation Army welfare chairmaD) direction, food was provided to over 150 people, medical supplies for 20, clothing to 10, gas to 25 families, bus transportation to six, and she arranged with dozens of local residents to take in survivors, in the Estes Park [are<il, and she was doing it for the Salvation Army. As well as mops, brooms, other items were taken care of where they were needed.
M.
How does the Salvation Army react, in the first place, so fast, and in the second place, with such a great variety? I mean, here you are, clothing, medical supplies, gas, transportation, food, and you're here, and you'rethere. lj:aptain Birks' child ·whispers to him]
But the question is, how could you react so fast and in such a variety of ways. I mean, you're there almost immediately, you're doing all these things, the food, the money, the clothing, all this is flowing, and the victim comes in, and all these things are just (snaps his fingers), taken care of like that. How can you do that?
·'
B: Well, basically, it's our structure, but we don"t worry about~ for tnstance where the money.'s going to come from,
M: Okay.
we spend is the donations. M: Okay.
B: Some if it through United ~·lay, a lot of it directly through disasters or for particular items like this, and we believe the community will, there\s still that care for the other person, even though everyone wants, you know, say that they don't care about their neighbor or anyth1'ng else, i f there 1 s a
disaster, everyone's willing to help. So ~t-Je go in with the idea that this is basically what needs to be done, if it needs to be done, let's do it, So rather than worry about red tape or something else.
M: Okay, so you just go ahead and supply the personts needs, B: Right.
M: Do you ever worry about somebody cheating you or ripping you off or?
B: Well, I don1t even really think it enters our mind, It doesn't mine, Be~
cause not many people are going to oh~ I guess there are a few, But really,
/\
we don 1 t worry about that many because usually i f there's a need there~ you
can tell just by talki'ng to the person.
M: I see. Okay one last question. Have you, you've been through the Big
Thompson, you've worked all this time, and you_ set up the canteen and so on, Are there any lessons that you've learned, any, any sort of experience that you had that made an impact on you? From this experience?
B: Oh, yes. As far as our own internal program. For instance, we went up with more help in some cases than we needed. Through this we've learned then basically, on a disaster like this, we need teams of four to take care of the canteen, Also, in many cases, volunteers probably, within the
area would come in. In this particular area, since we were up in the command center, they couldn't get through.
M: Sure.
B: But arrangements could be made that way, And when we go into an area, like in Big Thompson, the money that was donated for the Big Thompson was spent locally through the SafevJay store, the Albertson1's store, and Seven~Eleven,
and some of the other grocery stores, as well as hardware stores or that area, and what we1re thinking of is ways to make better connections with these
people so that we 111 be ready to make contact with them as soon as we arrive,
M:
So you1re going smooth out the organization.B:
That1s about it. Right.M: Okay, Any conclusions about the nature of people?
B:
You mean, the ... ? M: Human being.B: I think theytre great. I think, really, and I think there's no one in life that doesn1t have a problem of some kind at some time.
M: Yes.
8: And it1s great to be a part of the fact of being able to see if you can find
an answer with it, with them, not just for them, but with them, M: Great. Maybe thatts a good concluding statement.
Anything else we ought to put on here that you can think of? B: No, I appreciate you coming down.
