North Dakota Lions Emergency Relief rallying support for families affected by recent fires

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – After several recent apartment fires in Bismarck-Mandan, a volunteer group is helping families rebuild.

North Dakota Lions Emergency Relief has been helping families affected by apartment fires in the Bismarck-Mandan area since 2019. The non-profit is still in need of volunteers and financial donations while it works to get fire victims closer to normal.

Coordinator Patty Barrette said the focus is on more than immediate needs.

“So our goal is not to just get them through today and tomorrow. Obviously that’s very, very important, but we want them to think long term. We want to try to help everyone get as close to normal as we can,” Barrette said.

The organization is positioned to help 150 people in the first 48 hours after a disaster with clothing, hygiene supplies, bedding and household basics.

Once families find a place to stay, volunteers help them prepare for the months ahead by providing winter clothing and other essentials they may not think about in the moment.

“We have people that can kind of have been through this before either personally or have been part of our organization. They can sit down and say, okay, you know, what size underwear do you need? What size socks do you need?” Barrette said.

Barrette said helping families through traumatic situations can also weigh heavily on volunteers.

“We get the residual trauma. And so I have to monitor the team, make sure that they’re doing okay too, because there’s a lot we’re dealing with. You get a lot of tears coming in,” Barrette said.

Clothing and household donations are temporarily paused because of the overwhelming community response.

The group said financial donations, gift cards and volunteers are still needed to support families. Donations are helping families impacted by the Alberta Heights and Kirkwood Park fires.

The volunteer-run group said the first week after a disaster often brings a strong response, but as time goes on, families are still rebuilding and the need for help continues.

The group is looking for drivers, sorters, intake takers and bilingual volunteers. One-shift commitments are welcome.

One hundred percent of donations go through the North Dakota Lions Emergency Relief fund. More information is available on the group’s Facebook page.