The official Release:
On the 8th of September, 2020, a wildfire swept through the southern end of the Rouge River Valley in Oregon. This unprecedented event had an immediate impact on several thousand people and hundreds of businesses as both residences and commercial structures were consumed by the flames. What was not directly involved in the fires suffered from smoke, ash and loss of utilities.
To the tight knit community of model railroaders, this was brought close to home as the production facility of Micro-Trains Line in Talent, Oregon was near the path of the flames.
While the MTL facility was spared directed involvement, door, smoke and ash plus the loss of utilities will impact MTL for a period of time. However, 6 of the employees of MTL were not as fortunate and their places of residence were deemed to be complete losses due to the wild fire.
Even while the scope and breadth of the impacts to the MTL employees were being evaluated, dedicated N Scale Enthusiast Member Ken Yohe from Lynnwood, WA decided to take action. A internet fundraising effort using the Gofundme.com platform leveraging social media, N Scale Newsgroups, individuals, hobby stores and the N Scale Enthusiast quickly evolved within 24 hours.
The goal started and remained a way to provide some relief to those MTL employees whose lives were so impacted by the fire. The breadth and range of contributors, both in number and donation exceeded all expectations. A true cross section of model railroaders, other model railroad manfacturers , hobby distributors, and MTL product fans all participated. As many know, we have pressed on with this in hopes of reaching as many people as possible. A number of goal ceilings were established and surpassed
But as we all know, everything good has to come to an end. With the agreement of all the principals involved it has been decided to close the donation door at 12:00 PM, Monday , Sept 21, 2020.
The displaced employees from Micro Trains are so grateful for the overwhelming amount of people out there that have opened up their hearts and participated in the campaign.
If you are of a mind to help these 6 families who have lost everything, now is the time!
Thanks to all who have participated!
George
