THANK YOU!

The year since Atlas

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-MAUDE

As we face the one-year anniversary of winter storm Atlas, the families and communities impacted by the storm say “thank you!”

Thank you to those who called, wrote, prayed and thought of us. Who organized fundraisers in faraway locations and encouraged others to help. To those who sent cattle or money. We remain humbled and overwhelmed by your generosity, and you have restored our faith in humanity over the past year. If you didn’t hear from us personally, please know that we are deeply grateful and thankful for the unmatched kindness you extended to us.

We lost a part of ourselves last fall as we searched, and found, our cattle scattered across the western Plains following the blizzard. The weight of responsibility for the animals placed in our care that were lost weighed heavy on our minds – and still does. While we know that everything possible was done in an effort to save our livestock, we also had to face our own shortcomings as their caregivers in the days and weeks following the storm. Available protection, experience, hay supply, management practices – none of it mattered when Atlas hit, and it is a sobering thing to face your own limitations.

However, we also learned that when at your lowest, you often find yourself in the perfect position to pray, and pray we did. I truly believe that the power of prayer, something much of our ranching community practices, can do amazing things. The past year has been a shining example of what God can do through those that pray and believe in Him.

People from across the country and world responded to the storm, despite the lack of national media coverage. Calls, emails, letters and gift boxes poured into our homes. Donations of livestock, money, vet supplies and countless other useful items found their way to those who needed them. The Ranchers Relief Fund ballooned to over $5 million within six months, and Heifers for South Dakota delivered more than 1,000 bred heifers and cows into the hands of affected ranchers in roughly the same timeframe. Rumor has it a major vet supply company dropped off more than $500,000 in livestock supplies to area ranchers and the South Dakota Stockgrowers office following the storm. Countless other large and small ag-affiliated businesses followed suit.

We heard of and saw many of the online auctions, the t-shirt sales, the kids who took donation buckets treator-treating. There were the meetings where they collected donations, the communities that hosted auctions, and the people who donated items of their craft to sell at each auction. The 30 young people belonging to the Alabama Jr. Cattlemen’s Association who traveled to South Dakota with heifer donations, work gloves, and a desire to help for a few days. The producers from Virginia who sent a pot load of heifers and recalled western producers sending them hay in the 1970s. While the back story wasn’t always attached to the gift when it was received, we heard of all these amazing showcases of kindness, and we thanked God for each and every person on the giving end.

There were also the private moments within families and between neighbors that will never be published, which are tucked in our hearts for life. Those brief words of encouragement and help while gathered on porches or around kitchen tables following a day of working together brought us peace and comfort, and remain a shining example to us of how to bestow God’s grace and love on others.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of what the old timers are still debating as one of, or the worst, blizzard they can recall, we can honestly say we are better off than we were a year ago. It has not been an easy year of recovery – there are bull pastures that saw half their occupants all summer due to a shortage of cows, the stench in some areas this spring was overwhelming, and you don’t want to see our fence situation heading into this fall. But, those temporary problems pale in comparison to the unstoppable and unmatched outpouring of love, kindness, concern and support for the continuation of our way of life.

Once again, thank you to everyone who took time to help us. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and has managed to turn what was an initial tragedy into a restoration of faith and humanity, an increased degree of gratitude for this wonderful lifestyle we enjoy and an unmatched appreciation for the people we share it with. May God bless you and American agriculture.

PHOTO COURTESY HEATHER HAMILTON-MAUDE

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