SALT LAKE CITY — Amid the coronavirus pandemic and in the aftermath of Utah’s earthquake, local churches are stepping up to be “human car washes” to disinfect first responders if necessary and provide shelter for people left homeless due to ruined housing.
The effort is a coalition of nonprofits, state and federal agencies, and churches that are part of the Utah Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, or VOAD.
It includes the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, as well as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church of Scientology and the Southern Baptists Convention.
In a virtual briefing Thursday, representatives from the various organizations described their response to both the March 18 magnitude 5.7 earthquake and the coronavirus pandemic.
“No. 1, we are here for safety for those who are working on the front lines to make sure they are well protected,” said Heidi Ruster, regional CEO of the American Red Cross.
The group is focused on masks, respirators, disinfectants and getting meals and other critical supplies to people in need.
As an example, local church leaders teamed up to deliver 500 rolls of toilet paper to the Ute Indian Tribe. A Rose Park Latter-day Saint meetinghouse that has a gym with showers is being made available for first responders for decontamination should they come in contact with a COVID-19 person.
Ed Blake, with Habitat for Humanity, is working to help displaced residents in Magna and West Valley City who had to leave their homes due to the March earthquake.
“They are sleeping in their cars in front of their mobile homes,” he said Thursday. “The reason they don’t go back to their families is because of COVID-19.”
The organization, however, hopes to lift 45 of the mobile homes in impacted parks and get them habitable again after securing funding from Salt Lake County and West Valley City.
In addition, the organization delivered 11,000 gloves, 200 safety glasses and 200 N95 masks to Utah’s health care system.
Blake also described a unique partnership between state corrections officials and the Utah Department of Transportation to house low-risk inmates released early due to coronavirus. The former inmates will find temporary housing in homes slated to be bulldozed for future road construction projects, he said.
Bill Tolbert, the group’s Utah north area representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the response from a multitude of volunteer organizations has been inspiring.
“The whole community response philosophy is alive and well in Utah and northern Utah,” he said. “It is an ongoing seismic movement I have not seen before. There is spontaneous compassion and care to help those who are frightened and in need.”