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Sep 12, 2011 | Luke Blount

Bishop Doyle Visits Bastrop, Tours Fire Devastation

Bishop Doyle Fire Bastrop
The Rev. Lisa Hines, Mayor Terry Orr, and Bishop Doyle
Bastrop Fire Car
A home and car completely destroyed from the fire

Bishop Andy Doyle visited Bastrop on September 9, meeting with the Rev. Lisa Hines, rector of Calvary, Bastrop, Mayor Terry Orr, and County Judge Ronnie McDonald. 

 

Bishop Doyle toured the area, viewing some of the devastated neighborhoods as well as the volunteer distribution and call center.

 

"I appreciate you coming," Orr told Bishop Doyle. "We need folks to know whats really going on up here."

 

"We talked to Episcopalians in San Diego who have faced similar fires," Doyle said. "They told us one of the most critical needs is money, so that is what we have been focusing on."

 

With the fire 60 percent contained, and the extent of the disaster becomes more apparent, Bishop Doyle renewed the diocesan push for donations.

 

Click here to donate now.

 

Fifteen hundred homes and 34,000 acres have been reduced to cinder by the wildfire, one of several burning in Texas. Hines and 35 families from Calvary are among those whose homes burned.

 

"At this point, I haven't really dealt with it at all," Hines said about losing her possessions. "Occasionally things come to mind. I'm an artist, so a lifetime of art and writing is gone. But mostly I'm ok. It's almost a feeling of relief. When you have something, you spend so much time holding onto it, and organizing it and wondering whether you should keep it or not. But now I just realize, I'm not in the mood to accumulate anything. I just want a few changes of clothing."

 

As the group toured the call center, they ran into several volunteers from the Church of Holy Apostles, Katy. Wilma McCoul, Win Brown and Judy Heald were volunteering with Victim Relief Ministries. Most of the churches in the Diocese of Texas have organized donation drives, and some have become centers for distribution. 

 

To view more photos from Bishop Doyle's trip click here. To stay up to date on this and other fires in Texas, click here.