As I read and enjoy the articles in The Herald about all the volunteers who helped during the Oso slide disaster, I am reminded of the unheralded Oso women and their volunteers. Perhaps no one realizes that these women fed first responders and grieving family members from day one. Within hours of the slide, the fire hall kitchen was turned into a place to get coffee and sandwiches, cookies and much more.
Later that day, vats of homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles were donated by a local woman. In the cold, wet days to follow, the men and women would come from the slide in shifts during the day — they just wanted some of that hot soup!
Fire Chief Willy Harper appointed Auxiliary member Kelly M. to organize the volunteers and all the food and supplies being delivered to feed the responders. She scheduled three shifts a day, of six women for each shift. They started work at 5:30 a.m. and often ended at 9:30 p.m. Organizing this was a monumental job, but thanks to Kelly and her volunteers, over 150 first responders and family members were fed every day with breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus any snack they wanted. Our Fire Hall kitchen is quite small, so this was not easy.
We could not have done this without the tons of food donated by businesses from far and wide, as well as food donated by Oso families. We were actually feeding soup to the men monitoring the Whitman bridge on day two, when the soup ladies arrived! They were a little shocked that hot soup was being ladled out of the back of a car to the men. They asked, and were given samples of clam chowder and vegetable soup! They then gave us soup spoons to use for the future.
Many people came to help the Auxiliary women accomplish the feeding of the many. God bless the woman who cleaned the kitchen floor every day, and the man who came from the Duvall area and cooked breakfast starting at 5:30 a.m. And the employees of the Medallion Hotel who filled hundreds of Easter eggs for the annual Oso Auxiliary egg hunt because Oso women were working to feed people and had not time to prepare for the egg hunt.
The Oso Auxiliary women would like to thank everyone who worked so hard and donated so much during this sad time for all of us.
Nancy Rambo
Oso Fire Auxiliary member
Secretary of Fire District 25
Oso
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
