As recession lingers,
locals step up to the plate

By Wendilyn Grasseschi
Mammoth Times Staff Writer

Bourelle’s Christian faith sustains and inspires him to help others.

When Jerry Bourelle looks at someone who is out of money, out of food, out of luck, he does something most of us don’t have the courage to do.
He looks them in the eye.
Then, he asks what he can do to help – and does what he can to do that.
But he’s no saint, this man. Far from it, as he will tell you himself.
His younger years in this high mountain resort town where people come to play were spent running wild and crazy and frequently high on some drug of choice.
But one day in 1986, he had an epiphany. How and why, you can ask him yourself.
When he woke up the next morning, his life was literally changed; completely, irrevocably, forever.
That still didn’t mean he was a saint.
Far from it, as he will tell you himself.
“I’m a work in progress,” he said. “I’ve got a long way to go.”
But the drugs were gone, the wild and crazy days and nights were over and he had a new mission, a new imperative: to be of service to his fellow human beings, to serve people as he believes Christ served others.
He was (and is) a member of the Crowley-based Church on the Mountain. In the mid-90s, he really started to notice the young ski area workers, who, after the rent was paid, didn’t have enough money left to buy food.
So he, along with former Mono County Supervisor and retired businessman Paul Rowan helped start something called La Tienda, a kind of food bank and then thrift store that helped people out when they needed it. The store and pantry did well for a while then faded as times and management changed.

MAMMOTH TIMES PHOTO/WENDILYN GRASSESCHI Jerry Bourelle and Phil Higerd get ready to hang a Salvation Army sign in the new food pantry window.

But today, with a jobless recession in full swing in Mammoth, the need is even greater, as the full-time roofer for D&J Roofing knows full well. He’s seen construction jobs dry up to almost nothing, seen people who have never known what it is to struggle to pay the rent having a hard time, seen families, middle class, working families, with upside-down mortgages, one step away from being homeless.
And once again, Bourelle and his fellow community members find themselves compelled to do something.
That something is food pantry, originally proposed by the Salvation Army, a 300-square-foot former office space donated by Mammoth businessman Phil Higerd, who owns the building and a plumbing business.
The little office opens this week, and will be open three days a week for a few hours each of those days. It will be staffed by volunteers from some local churches and the Salvation Army, who will have a presence in Mammoth for the first time. The food will come strictly from donations, with 100 percent of the money from the donations going to food.
Anyone who feels they need it is welcome to stop by, no questions asked, no conditions, and certainly no proselytizing.
“We want people to know they can just stop by, get what they need and get through the week, until the next paycheck, with no questions asked, no judgment,” he said.
There’s a whole crew working to make the food bank work; Higerd, Rowan, Salvation Army board member and former Oaktree owner Roger Barker (who donated his time to convert the office space into the shelves and cabinets needed for food storage), and people like local residents Carolyn Balliet and Margie Neer, as well as families and friends who have offered to volunteer.
Higerd is not as effusive as Bourelle, but just the same he donated the office space.
It’s silly to let it go to waste when it could be used for a good purpose, he said.
“This is the most severe and sharp decline in jobs I have ever seen,” said the Mammoth veteran business owner. He said every day, almost, someone else comes in wondering if he has any leads on work.
“I’ve been here through a lot of cycles, a lot of ups and downs, but I have never seen so much lost in such a short amount of time,” he said.
“And Mammoth is doing worse than the rest of the country employment-wise, especially in the construction business. The percent of people out of work here is much greater than the state’s average, even. And these are very experienced, longtime residents I’m talking about.”
Bourelle said he believes Mammoth will come through for its own, just like it always has. He’s not worried that there won’t be enough donations to keep the pantry going.
“For some time now, people have been caught up in making a buck,” he said. “But you do that too much, you lose your joy, you lose your peace, because it always becomes about what you are losing. But helping people is a great way to help ourselves, heal ourselves.
“I’ve seen this town come through before and it will again.”

WHO TO CALL
For more information about the new food pantry call Bourelle: (760) 937-5636 or at (760) 934-6927 or Salvation Army:(760) 872-6100
The Mammoth Lakes Lutheran Church in Mammoth has also had a food pantry since the fall of 2009: (760) 943-4051
The Baptist Bridgeport Christian Fellowship church also has one: (760) 932-7578
Mono County Social Services can help families who are out of food  through emergency food supplies and longer term food stamps: (760) 924-1770