Cerro Grande Fire Survivors and the Atom Masher President,
looking over the bountiful donations
To the Homebrewing Community:
We, the Los Alamos Atom Mashers Homebrewing Club, would like to extend our deepest appreciation and heartfelt thanks for the many kindnesses shown us during the aftermath of the Cerro Grande Fire.
In May of this year, the largest fire to burn in New Mexico in recorded history ravaged Los Alamos and the surrounding area. The results of the 50,000 acre fire were devastating: 400 homes were burned to the ground, the nearby forested mountains were reduced to black charred stubble, and the denuded ground made threats of flash floods real.
Los Alamos was a confused and traumatized place. The entire town of 18,000 people was evacuated, some neighborhoods for as long as two weeks. Los Alamos National Laboratory, the major employer in town, closed its doors for two weeks, an unprecedented occurrence. Many people lost all of their possessions when their houses burned. Some houses burned completely while neighboring houses went unscathed. Everyone knew of friends that had lost their houses. The town was physically and emotionally damaged.
The Atom Mashers Homebrewing Club had serious losses. Three members lost their houses, one member lost a shed with two motorcycles in his backyard, and the club library burned. The club had held meetings in all of the houses that burned. The members that lost houses included our librarian, and members of our webmaster and newsletter editor teams.
News of the Atom Masher homebrewer losses got out, via the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) Board of Advisors email list and local New Mexico homebrewing email lists. Some gracious people decided that while they couldn't bring back people's houses, they could help them get started homebrewing again by donating equipment, supplies, or just plain cash.
Some people who hear about the contributions think that it is silly to give homebrewing equipment to people that have just lost everything. We can assure you that it is not - after the immediate short-term needs have been satisfied, the reality of the situation sinks in. Homebrewing is not one of the essentials in life, but sometimes it is the small pleasures that restore our sanity.
The list of donations and other help is long; your generosity was great. The Atom Mashers would like to publicly thank:
We also wish to point out that all of the shipping charges were paid by the donors, including the freight for the malted grain, the carboys and bottles, the hops, and the grain mills.
Once again, the Atom Mashers would like to express our most profound appreciation for the outpouring of generosity from the homebrewing community. We were overwhelmed.
We have included contact information for all of the donors - please use their services if you can, for they are truly Heroes of Homebrewing.
| Michael L. Hall, Atom Masher President, |
| on behalf of the entire Atom Masher Club |
Contact info for the donor businesses and clubs:
| Automatic Equipment Mfg. Co. | ph. 1-800-228-9289 |
| http://www.automaticag.com/ | |
| info@automaticag.com | |
| One Mill Road, Industrial Park | |
| Pender, NE 68047 | |
| Brew Pack Products | ph. 801-975-7333 |
| http://www.brewpack.com/ | |
| info@brewpack.com, sales@brewpack.com | |
| P.O. Box 26668 | |
| Salt Lake City, UT 84126 | |
| The Dukes of Ale Homebrewing Club | |
| http://www.angelfire.com/nm/DukesofAle/ | |
| claassen@swcp.com | |
| Albuquerque, NM | |
| Fromm, Mayer-Bass LLC | ph. 1-800-FMB-HOPS |
| http://www.fmbhops.com/ | |
| fmb@televar.com | |
| P.O. Box 10824 | |
| Yakima, WA 98909-1824 | |
| The Knights of the Brown Bottle Homebrewing Club | |
| http://hbd.org/kobb/ | |
| joepat54@flash.net | |
| Arlington, TX | |
| Listermann Manufacturing Co. | ph. 513-731-1130 |
| http://www.listermann.com/ | |
| Dan@Listermann.com | |
| 1621 Dana Ave. | |
| P.O. Box 12251 | |
| Cincinnati, OH 45212-0251 | |
| Jack Schmidling Productions | ph. 815-923-0031 |
| http://user.mc.net/arf/aysindex.htm | |
| arf@mc.net | |
| 18016 Church Road | |
| Marengo, IL 60152 | |
| Schreier Malting Company | ph. 1-800-669-MALT |
| http://www.schreiermalt.com/ | |
| specialtymalt@schreiermalt.com | |
| 704 South 15th St. | |
| P.O. Box 59 | |
| Sheboygan, WI 53082-0059 | |
| The Atom Mashers Homebrewing Club | |
| http://hbd.org/atommash | |
| Mike.Hall@POBox.com | |
| Los Alamos, NM 87544 | |