Thank You to Melanie Stanley!

On the night of Labor Day 2020, before packing a few of her own possessions in a car and escaping the rapidly spreading devastation of the wildfires that were coming towards Blue River, Melanie Stanley made sure she warned as many of her neighbors as she could. That involved physically knocking on people’s doors, as well as hastily publishing a post on the Blue River Bulletin Board, a Facebook group popular with locals, which told people in no uncertain terms it was time to leave. Right now. 

Seeing that post prompted many residents (myself included) to instantly realize the seriousness of the situation and take action where they might have waited longer, with potentially terrible consequences. 

Although the destruction to property and the environment in Blue River was nothing short of devastating, the fact that only one person (who refused to leave) lost their life is a testament for neighbors such as Melanie looking out for one another. And that has also been the community spirit that has carried us through the many challenges we’ve been faced since then. 

Melanie had long been known as the unofficial Mayor of Blue River, and although her own personal loss in the fire was huge – both the Meyer’s General Store which had been run by her mother Pat Stanley before her, and her home, along with most of her possessions were entirely destroyed – she focused her energies on helping others.

These ongoing efforts were recently recognized by the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG), who presented Melanie with the “Outstanding Citizen Award” for her work and contributions to the community. 

Immediately following the fire, while almost the entire population of Blue River and the surrounding areas was displaced in hotels around town, Melanie helped to organize community meetings that kept people informed about help and resources available to them, and provided emotional support in the aftermath of the traumatic events. She also volunteered her time to help gather and distribute donations to fire victims.  

In the months that followed, as residents began to return to Blue River, Stanley worked with the McKenzie CDC and fellow community organizer Jamee Savidge to support the huge volunteer clean-up efforts spearheaded by Cascade Relief and Reach Out World Wide. 

As the relief centers set up to meet the needs of fire-affected residents phased out, Stanley has also been helping volunteers at the Food Pantry as it reopened at its usual pre-fire location at the McKenzie River Community School. 

The MCDC would like to thank Melanie for all her work and ongoing contributions, and although she is no longer officially employed as a community organizer, we know that she will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of our entire community and we look forward to collaborating with her and supporting those efforts going forward.