CNA Staff, Feb 3, 2025 /
06:00 am

Catholics in Kansas last week drove a truckload of supplies more than 1,600 miles to Los Angeles to bring some relief to the faithful there who have been devastated by recent wildfires. 

Deacon Greg Trum and his wife, Barb, told CNA they were moved to help residents of Los Angeles while putting Christmas decorations away in the storage space of their Leawood, Kansas, home. 

“Barb said, ‘Hey, if something’s been in the storage area for a year and we haven’t needed it, it needs to go,’” Trum said, adding that his wife further expressed that she wished they could get some of their belongings to victims of the Los Angeles fires. 

Trum’s response? “We could probably load up a truck and do something.”

The Trums asked their pastor, Father Brian Schieber at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, if they could organize the parish to donate supplies. They contacted Paul Escala, the superintendent of Catholic schools in Los Angeles, to determine what parishioners in that city might need. The effort ultimately focused on students and others at St. Elizabeth Catholic School in Altadena.

They put the word out to the St. Michael community. “The response was overwhelming,” the deacon said. “Immediately people started bringing things in.”

The effort began at the St. Michael the Archangel parish school. Trum said the principal told the several hundred children of the school: “If you woke up and had nothing, what would you need? Bring that to these kids.” 

“We got a ton of school supplies, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and bedding,” Trum said. “It was originally somewhat focused on the school. But once we knew we were going to overwhelm the school [in Los Angeles] with the supplies, we opened it to family needs.”

Organizers quickly saw that the volume of goods being donated by the parish would require a truck to transport it. Trum was able to secure transportation at a bargain rate. 

“I was in the commercial tire business,” he said. “One of my customers was Penske Truck.” 

“I didn’t want to get gouged,” Trum said with a laugh. “I called them up and told them about it and said, will you give us a deal?”

According to the deacon, the company responded: “We’ll give you a really good deal — we’ll give you a truck!” All it cost the church was gas, Trum said. 

A fellow parishioner, Mike Pollock, oversaw the logistics of boxing up and organizing the supplies. The deacon ultimately rode out with another friend and fellow Catholic, Mike Klover. 

On the way out, they stopped at a Catholic parish in Topeka that had heard about the effort and wanted to add supplies to the truck. The city was directly on the route to Los Angeles, so the drivers stopped and loaded up more donations. 

After that, “the only room we had on our truck was our two suitcases,” the deacon said. “Mother Mary was definitely in charge, making sure things went well.”

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Both the St. Elizabeth church and school survived, but many members of the parish and school lost their homes in the surrounding area.

The duo traveled a total of 1,653 miles to get to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Pasadena, where the supplies would be dropped off for the nearby St. Elizabeth Parish. 

“We had a 3:30 appointment, and we were there at 3:15,” Trum said. Many members of the community turned out to help unload the truck, including Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Brian Nunes.

Trum and Klover stayed overnight two nights with the religious sisters at the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra before heading back to Kansas. 

For Barb Trum, the experience was the fruit of a dedication to Christ and the Virgin Mary. “We have a very deep devotion to the Blessed Mother,” she told CNA. “You have to stay very close to the sacraments every day, whether it’s daily Mass, the Eucharist, reconciliation, or adoration.”

She urged the faithful to “have an open heart to do God’s work and build up the kingdom of God.” She pointed to the Gospel directive in which the faithful are told “if you have two things you’re supposed to give one to someone who needs it.” 

“When Jesus calls, we respond,” she said. “That’s what we did.”