Coordinated Help

It was a little after 9:00 am on Saturday that the phone call came in. It was from the Lansdale borough office. The Stanbridge Apartments were on fire, and the lobby of the borough building was filling up with people displaced by the fire. While Manna was not equipped to handle a situation of this magnitude alone, we were able to help the borough take the necessary first steps. The Red Cross, which would be a first-responder to the emergency, would need a call from a borough official to take action. We provided the borough with the number, then contacted a local response team to make arrangements for a place to gather all the individuals affected by the fire.

Arrangements were made to take everyone to Trinity Lutheran Church, where the Red Cross could meet with them. Manna had food and drinks delivered to the church, and by the end of the day, the Red Cross had made accommodations at local hotels so that the people in need had a place to stay for the next few days. Over the coming days we will work with the Stanbridge Apartments and the households displaced by the fire to provide additional guidance.

While a fire and families displaced is far from an ideal situation, it was encouraging to see how the community and various organizations came together in a time of need...