UNC Charlotte campus ministry responds to Montana blizzards

Fifteen Early Response Team members, all students at UNC Charlotte and active in Niner United, the United Methodist campus ministry, responded to the multiple blizzards affecting northwest Montana’s Blackfeet Native American Reservation.

Since the first of January, the Blackfeet Reservation has seen an astonishing 240 inches of snow. Nearly 7,500 people live on the reservation, and many have been snowed in for over a month.

The Early Response Team from UNC Charlotte received and distributed five tons of wood pellets and three semi-loads of trees provided by UMCOR, cut and parceled in hundreds of pickup truckloads of firewood that traveled as far north as the Canadian border. The team also received and distributed four shipments of food and supplies that originated in Helena, the capital of Montana.  

The Rev. Stephen Cheyney, UNC Charlotte campus pastor, and the 15 ERT team members delivered a $5,000 donation from the Western North Carolina Conference to the Blackfeet Nation designated for disaster relief.

Please keep the Blackfeet in your prayers. Warming spring temperatures will eventually lead to major flooding, recalling the deadliest flood in Montana's history in 1964 when 31 died from flooding snow melt.