Rebuilding in Alaska

Workers begin to rebuild homes destroyed by ice floes

Samaritan's Purse staff and volunteers have arrived in the Yukon River town of Eagle, Alaska, and begun to rebuild homes that were destroyed or badly damaged by ice floes and water.

Our teams are working alongside a local church partner, Eagle Bible Chapel, to rebuild 13 houses. Materials and volunteers began arriving the first week in July.

“We’re so thankful that you’ve come to help,” said Terry DePue, pastor of the church whose congregation includes several families that lost their dwellings to the cold floodwaters.

In early May, the combination of a severe winter and early spring thaw sent flooding and a massive ice jam crashing into the tiny Alaskan community. Nearly every riverfront building, including the town clinic, was crushed. The flood hit at night, sending residents scurrying for their lives.

“People are just hurting and upset at what happened,” pastor Terry DePue said as he stood by the now receded Yukon River and surveyed the strewn cars, houses, and belongings still scattered along the banks. “They’re really at their wit’s end.”

DePue’s church has participated in Operation Christmas Child for a number of years, sending their shoe box gifts up river to Fairbanks.

“We immediately thought of Samaritan’s Purse when the flood hit,” DePue said. “We began praying about it, and some members of our church even contacted them.”

Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham visited Eagle in early July to survey the damage and spoke briefly at Eagle Bible Church.

“We’re here to work in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” Graham told church members who gathered to listen. “We want to share the hope of the Gospel with those who have lost so much.”

A number of the small homes that Samaritan’s Purse will help construct will be relocated to a new site on higher ground. DePue sees it a great opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ to people who have lost everything.

“We’re looking forward to seeing what great things God can do in a small community like Eagle,” he said.

Ways You Can Help

PRAY

• For the families whose homes were destroyed by the ice floes.

• For God to provide the volunteers and resources needed to to rebuild the homes.

• That the work will be completed before the harsh winter.