From the Pastor:
  Thank you so much for your continued concern and your desire to donate your time to assist the victims of the wildfires that have impacted our area.   
    As with all such events, this situation is extremely fluid.  By this time tomorrow, things may have changed significantly.  We will continue to update this site as best we are able.  If any of you have direct experience with this particular type of situation, please feel free to ask me questions, make suggestions, or share practical lessons you may have learned from that experience.  Also feel free to share this and other correspondence with any who may be interested.
     Thank you, and the churches you represent, for your care and concern both for our church and the communities we serve.  Thank you particularly for your prayers which are sustaining us all.  God is good, and I look forward to the good which God can bring from this trying and difficult time.

Blessings and peace to you all, my brothers and sisters,
Jane
Information for Residents with Fire Damage 
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  CURRENT DISTRIBUTION AND DONATION SITES:

Bastrop County Fire Relief (originally located at Tahitian Village) is now located at 201 Childers (near Walmart), Suite 107, open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and Saturday 8-12 noon, closed on Sunday.  Household, kitchen, pet supplies, toiletries, and clothing available.  Accepting all donations, but especially need cleaning supplies.  Not accepting furniture.  For more information go to www.bastropcofirerelief.org or e-mail bastropcofirerelief@yahoo.com or call 512-581-2184.
 
Bastrop Church of Christ donation center located at 287 Highway 20,  CLOSED ON DECEMBER 17.  For more information please call (512) 303-4597.

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FREE COUNSELING AVAILABLE FOR CHILDREN AFFECTED BY WILDFIRES 

Trained counselors are available through the network of state Community Mental Health Centers. Calls to the crisis lines are free of charge, and wildfire survivors can request a face-to-face follow-up session if their needs cannot be fully served through phone counseling. For information on crisis counseling available in their county, survivors can call the 2-1-1 Texas Information and Referral Network.  More info: http://bastroprelief.org/free-counseling-available-children-affected-wil...

These tips from the mental health experts may also help parents and other caregivers whose families were affected by the wildfires:
              Slow down and enjoy time with your family.
             Make an effort to spend any extra
             time     with     your child     or children.
  1. Be flexible.  This is an opportunity to create new traditions with your family.  It may be helpful to incorporate these with old traditions.
  2. Provide an environment where children are able to express their feelings.  Initiate the discussion and be honest with your own feelings, as you may be worried and insecure yourself.
  3. Take care of yourself so that you can help your children.
        The DSHS Disaster Behavioral Health Services team encourages parents to help children through this time by listening and talking about their feelings, while reassuring them they are loved and that it’s OK to have these feelings. Children are resilient, and with reassurance and love, they will be able to take a life-changing event and develop the coping mechanisms to assist them in the future. If families need extra help, free counseling is available.

  • Information on Making Donations

               Money, in the form of checks or gift cards, is helping us meet particular needs as they arise.  There are a number of local organizations accepting funds for both immediate and long term needs.  If you choose, you may send checks or gift cards to First Presbyterian Church, 300 Burleson, Smithville, Texas 78957.  These may be made payable to either our church or the Smithville Ministerial Alliance.  Or you may mail a check directly to: Smithville Ministerial Alliance,  PO Box 746, Smithville, TX  78957 (Phone 512.237.2176)
                
    You may also contribute to this particular cause through the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance by check or electronic means, at     https://gamc.pcusa.org/give/make-a-gift/DR000148/ .  To designate a gift specifically for the Bastrop County Complex Wildfire, PDA asks that you use the national general disaster account, DR000015, followed by the designation “Bastrop Co, TX wildfires”.   In Step #1 of the donation screen there is a space to enter comments/instructions when information is entered; at that location the donor will enter “Bastrop Co, TX wildfires”. If a donor writes a check, they should write “DR000015 - Bastrop Co, TX wild fires” on the memo line.  If you choose this method, please let us at FPC know so that we can thank you for your support. 
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    INFORMATION FOR VOLUNTEERS
     FPC has created a Wildfire Task Force to lead us in our efforts to help.  Alan Ford is the chair of the committee, and serving with him are Susan Guedry, Jim McLaughlin, Kelly Hubley, and Scott Saunders.  We are very pleased that our neighbor, First Baptist Church, has graciously agreed to share their former sanctuary building with the hospitality team that is composed of us (representing Presbyterian Disaster Assistance), the United Methodist Committee on Recovery, and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas Recovery team.  Faith Village is on its way to becoming a reality.  We hope to welcome our first volunteer teams sometime in March.
                Jim and Marilyn Marble, who have been working at the PDA site in Texas City, have agreed to come and help us get ready to welcome volunteers as well as serve as on-site hosts through April.  They should be here by the end of February, and I know they’ll receive a warm welcome from all of us here.
                There will be lots of opportunities for everyone to help support the visitors during the rebuilding of Bastrop County.   And if you have any ideas or suggestions, be sure to let me or one of the Task Force members know.  You’ll be hearing a lot more about this as time goes on!
                Being able to assist some of our neighbors who need help getting back in their homes is a good thing.  But I am also excited about the fact that we are going to be working together with the Baptists, the Methodists, and the Episcopalians (and possibly some others) to accomplish this important task.  I am also excited about having Presbyterians from around the state and maybe even from around the country come experience the hospitality of Smithville.