From the ashes

Volunteer effort helps 2 families start over

December 2, 2005

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - When a local radio personality heard through friends that some Valley folks needed help rebuilding their lives after house fires, she decided to help.

&#8220I thought, if there's anything I can do to help, I want to,” said Becky Nichols, who works for KMBQ in Wasilla.

Nichols said she knew that several houses had burned in the Valley recently, but couldn't help everyone.

&#8220My first call was to the Red Cross,” she said. &#8220I asked who had the biggest needs.”

Nancy Hall, executive director of American Red Cross of Alaska, selected two, the Magee family, who were burned out of their home in Big Lake last month, and April Steik and Joe Brantley, who were burned out of their Sheep Creek cabin last month and lost their vehicles, too.

&#8220These are two families with kids, and everything was a total loss,” Hall said.

Nichols began a drive to collect household goods for the families, promoting the effort through the radio station and standing at Windy Corner over Thanksgiving weekend to accept donations.

The result, according to both women, was more than five vans full of clothes, blankets, towels, cooking utensils and other things you don't think about until you don't have them.

Jodi and Tony Magee came to collect Thursday afternoon, although their children, ages 15, 14, 12 and 7, were in school.

&#8220We want to thank everybody,” Jodi Magee said as she started sorting through the mounds of items at the Red Cross.

Steik and Brantley, whose children are 11, 9 and 7 years old, couldn't make it to the Red Cross. The one vehicle they have, a van, wouldn't start, Hall said.

On the up side, Brantley found a job working construction in Talkeetna, and his coworkers give him rides to and from work.

Both families are still looking for housing, Hall said.

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.