I would like to express my gratitude to the members of your community. My husband and I had flown into Centralia for a funeral. We drove into town the night of the big flood, Jan. 6.
We stayed at the Centralia Inn off of Harrison Boulevard. We woke the morning of Friday to being totally cut off from the rest of the town having been surrounded by water.
We had no supplies with us and no way to purchase anything. But the lovely people staying in the hotel reached out and brought us water, food and other life saving supplies like coffee.
The funeral was canceled due to the flooding, but our experience with the sheer kindness of your community made our trip a wonderful experience. It is heartwarming to see all of the grace and beauty, extended to perfect strangers during a very stressful time for them as well as us.
I have shared this story with anyone that will listen. In the midst of so much grief and angst, we were shown such love that it makes us appreciate that simple humaneness shown to us can change the world.
Your town has much to be proud of.
Casey and Beth Kalma
Bernalillo, New Mexico
