El Paso County (Colo.) Salvation Army responds to emergency.
The Salvation Army in El Paso County, Colo., deployed its canteen to feed emergency responders at the Beulah Hill Fire in Beulah, a small mountain town 20 miles southwest of Pueblo.
Volunteers served first responders well into the night on Oct. 3–feeding 700 pieces of chicken to over 400 people, along with hundreds of hamburgers and hot dogs. They finished up at about midnight, and in a few short hours had breakfast prepared.
The next morning, one participant reflected on the experience.
“Jesus revealed himself last night to feed the masses,” Jeane Turner, community relations and special events director for The Salvation Army El Paso County, wrote in a Facebook post. “Our dinner showed up frozen solid two hours before we were to serve over 400 of God’s servants, hungry and tired.”
Realizing they needed to come up with a plan B, the group let God take over.
“‘I’ve got this; I’ve done this before,’ God said. He not only provided a police escort to rush around town, he provided generous people along the way willing to pitch in and ‘do more.’ He multiplied the first batch of 100 pieces of chicken into over 700 pieces and we had an abundance of food in less than one hour. Impossible–if not for Jesus.”
The Salvation Army thanked its community partners, without whom the food service wouldn’t be possible: Walmart Pueblo, King Soopers, Pueblo Pizza Ranch, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Soldiers Security Protection Inc.
The fire, now 50 percent contained, ignited the afternoon of Oct 3 and has burned over 5,200 acres.
Majors Richard and Tammy Larson are El Paso County Coordinators and Colorado Springs Corps Officers; Lts. Saul and Crystal Smoak are Assistant Corps Officers.