Catholic high school students help clear debris from town gutted by fire

By Jay Nies, Catholic News Service

WOOLDRIDGE, Mo. (CNS) -- When Tim Scherrer, dean of academics at Fr. Tolton Regional Catholic High School, saw photos of the fire that ravaged the town of Wooldridge and its aftermath, he was stunned.

"I thought it would be good if we could do something to help," he told The Catholic Missourian, newspaper of the Diocese of Jefferson City. "And then I realized that we had the week of Thanksgiving off, so there was a perfect window of opportunity."

An Oct. 21 fire, believed to have started with harvesting equipment, quickly engulfed 23 buildings and about 3,500 acres of property in and around the small Cooper County town. The wind-driven flames leapt 20 feet into the air.

Interstate 70, about five miles from the town, had to be shut down for several hours due to the dense smoke.

Scherrer contacted the parent of a Tolton Catholic graduate, who put him in touch with the Wooldridge Legacy Association, a nonprofit group formed to help the town recover.

Thirty-two students, seven parents, three staff members and three alumni signed up for the "Toltonsgiving" project.

They met at noon Nov. 21, the Monday before Thanksgiving Day, and formed a convoy from the school in Columbia to Wooldridge.

They spent the first afternoon of their Thanksgiving break carrying debris from burned-out buildings to the curb for pickup.

"We could not have started on the cleanup without them," said Wooldridge Mayor Kelly Murphy.

From the hill overlooking the devastation, the students and adults rushing into the job looked like "a colony of ants," she said. "They participated with such joy and happiness that it gives us hope that soon we can get back to everyday life."

Murphy joined the group along with state Rep. Timothy Taylor and Brad Wooldridge, whose ancestors gave their name to the community.

Scherrer led the assembly in a prayer "for God to keep us safe and help us help these people in the best way we can."

The students and adults quickly formed teams and headed to the eight properties they had permission to work on.

The volunteers breached the ghostly outlines of what had been people's homes and workplaces.

"I was stunned," said Scherrer. "There was almost nothing left of the houses except the metal roofing, appliances and some ceramic pieces."

Freshman Katie Sutter was there with her mother, Connie, and her brother, Matthew, a Tolton Catholic graduate.

"It's crazy to see how much the people lost," said Katie. "There were hardly any walls or anything left. I can't imagine losing everything like that."

Her group got busy right away.

"We tried to clean up a bunch of things," she said. "We picked up metal and dragged it to the side of the road so they could come by and pick it up. My group took down what was left of a shed and got it out of the way."

Senior Luke McBee's group helped pull the remains of a trailer home apart and drag them to where they could be picked up for recycling.

Entering the outline of one destroyed home, Luke's group found a metal sink full of porcelain dishes that were being washed when the fire broke out.

"It's hard to imagine how completely normal everything was, right up to when the fire hit and the people had to run for their lives," he said.

In another sink, Luke saw how glassware had melted into the ceramic bowls and cups.

"The bowls were filled with solid glass in the shape of the bowl," he said. "There must have been water in the sink, because the silverware was untouched by the fire."

Another group found a lone bowl intact in what used to be a kitchen.

"They gently set it out by the mailbox," said Scherer, "because it was probably the only thing left of that house."

"In a way," said Luke, "imprints of their daily lives were preserved in the ashes."

Firefighters had saved the post office, the community center and historical Wooldridge Baptist Church from the fire.

"The church is an all-wood building right next to a house that had burned completely down to the ground," Luke noted.

"The church had some damage, but it's amazing that it survived," he said. "There should have been no way it was still standing the way it was."

"It was like someone had put a wall up to keep the fire away from the church," said Katie.

Within a few hours, the ruined landscape looked very different.

"I was amazed at how much we could get done," said Luke. "Pretty much any of the sheet metal was picked up and gone before we left."

He was happy to see how fellow students -- some who hardly knew each other -- could unite so well for a good cause.

"There were people I had seen but never talked to," he said. "And then here I was, standing side by side with them and cleaning up whatever we could."

Katie called it a good learning experience for everyone who took part.

"Working together as a team, we were able to clean something up that looked almost impossible to clean up," she said.

The students didn't go into this project in search of accolades, said Scherrer. "It was just something that needed to be done, and we had the people to do it."

"Just as a perfect storm of unfortunate events led to all of this damage, another perfect storm in terms of timing and circumstances and heartfelt kindness from our students brought all of this together," he stated.

Taylor said that when things like the Wooldridge fire happen, "folks need to look to their faith, their friends and their community."

"The good people from Fr. Tolton Catholic High School covered all of those," he said, adding: "No one knows God's plan and sometimes the journey is a struggle. But it's obvious that God worked through all of those who came to assist their brothers and sisters in need."

Murphy said the students "were amazing, stepping up for a town and people in need."

"Because of God," she added, "all things are possible!"