This February saw the biggest snowstorm seen in Oregon for many years. On Sunday, February 24th, the snow started to fall in Canyonville. It was thick, heavy snow, which piled up quickly. By the evening, there had already been three or four inches on the ground. And by the end of the night, power had gone out for a large part of southern Oregon. Canyonville, Roseburg, Eugene, and many other cities had lost power.
It was almost like living in a different world during the week on the Canyonville Academy campus. On our Campus, we immediately set out to make sure our students were warm. We also made sure that everyone got hot meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We pulled out three generators to ensure no one was uncomfortable. No power meant no internet, and by the end of the first day, most everyone’s phones had died.
To stay warm, we used a combination of electric heaters powered by generators, a real fireplace in the girls dorm, an RV owned by one of our staff with with students staying with staff members who’s houses still had power. Our kitchen had a generator for the fridge and freezer. The stove and fryer are both gas powered, so it was possible to make hot meals every day.
Boredom set in fairly quickly during the snowstorm. Soon everyone found ways to keep themselves entertained. With no school taking place, and no internet to keep us occupied, we spent most of our time with each other. Having conversations, playing board games, making snowmen and throwing snowballs were just a few activities that we filled our time with.
On Thursday 28th, our power finally turned back on and the snowstorm ended. There was an audible, and collective cheer that could be heard from every corner of the campus. We are so thankful to everyone who worked very hard to ensure that our students and staff were save and taken care of during this event. We are also thankful to our Lord for providing us with what we needed at the time to make the best out of a poor situation.
Thank you to the following people for photos. Judy Jones, Josh and Jessica Wead, Kim Yoorae, Cameron Nutter and Chuyu Zhu.