Trees harvested during this summer’s construction activities will heat the homes of Valley County residents this winter, thanks to the efforts of volunteers from the Donnelly Bible Church wood bank.

Armed with chainsaws and good intentions, volunteers descended on a heap of logs stockpiled in the Centennial parking lot, bucking and loading what should amount to 10 or more cords of firewood. From here, the wood is hauled to the church, split, stacked, and eventually distributed to low-income families across Valley County. 

A crew of nearly two dozen volunteers takes on different duties in this process. From retired loggers who oversee the cutting to seniors who prefer to operate the log splitters back at the church, anyone willing and able is encouraged to join the crew. Even kids can help stack and load.

Last winter, the Donnelly Bible Church wood bank gave away 42 cords of wood to deserving families. 

“We’re excited about the opportunity to partner with Brundage Mountain to help us supply this valuable service to community members in need,” says program organizer, Mike Heyer. “It’s a great way for us to reach out to families and assess whether they have other needs, like food support or other kinds of help.”

The group also helps cut wood for elderly and disabled people who can afford to purchase it, but don’t have the ability to split it. 

Typically, the group does a lot of small removals for individual landowners, but Heyer says being able to bring in big loads like one this allows them to help more neighbors.

“Smaller projects are great, but just as time consuming to organize. So when we can work with a partner like Brundage and pick up a dozen cords worth of wood at once, the whole program is more efficient,” says Heyer.

People don’t need to be members of the church to participate in the program, and can call the Donnelly Bible Church directly if they are in need for this winter. “So far, we’ve been blessed to be able to keep our supply up to meet the demand.”

“We know this excess wood has value as fuel, so we went looking for partners who could help us do something meaningful with it,” says Brundage Mountain General Manager, Ken Rider. “Last fall, we worked to supply the Shoshone Paiute tribe in partnership with the USFS’s Wood for Life program, and now we’re able to help out even closer to home thanks to the efforts of the volunteers from Donnelly Bible Church. These partnership opportunities are important to us and we’ll continue to seek them out in the future.”