FILLMORE, Utah — The community has shown up in all different ways this wildfire season. Most recently, donations are taking flight to people in Fillmore.
Although the Widemouth2 Fire is more than 100 miles south of Salt Lake City, community members here are still hoping they can help those in need.
Salt Lake City Thanksgiving Heroes, a non-profit whose mission is help with food scarcity across the state, partnered with Glidepath Aviation to bring supplies to people in need because of the Widemouth2 Fire.
Residents return home, but Widemouth 2 Fire danger is far from over:
Kelli Stone, the Vice President of SLC Thanksgiving Heroes flew out to Fillmore with a volunteer pilot, Trevor Peterson, on Tuesday.
“It was very surreal. When we got there watching everything around us, it was a little emotional. The lady that we were able to deliver the food to distribute she was so grateful and so kind. She was happy to see us. It was a little overwhelming,” Stone said.
Stone said they connected with the local school district to find out how many families needed meal kits to get them through the next few days.
They were able to fly over about 50 pounds of food.
“We took down frozen beef and turkey sticks, gallons of milk, things like that. We all shoved it in the back seat there and took down basically as much as we could,” Petersen said.
With the help of the owner at Glidepath Aviation, Brady Cloward, SLC Thanksgiving Heroes is hoping to continue to further their reach in rural communities.
“This rural program that we set up it’s necessary because some of these places that are in rural Utah just don’t have the services that maybe a larger metro-area have…this program came together because of all of you in this community,” Cloward, who also serves on the board for SLC Thanksgiving Heroes said.
Cloward said when he sent out a message asking for pilots to help others, his phone was flooded with volunteers.
“It was just serendipitous that this ended up being needed at the time we were accelerating this program. We’re trying to do this at least once a month, as it grows we’d love to service more meals,” Cloward added.
This flight was just one of many opportunities to come. Pilots like Petersen are hoping to get another opportunity to help their neighbors.
“Aviation is really fun for me, so to give back in a service way, this opportunity was just something I have been looking for,” Petersen said.
SLC Thanksgiving Heroes is always looking for people to volunteer and join their events. You can find more information about what they have to offer on their website.
