On Thursday, July 9, an EF1 tornado struck Blue Mountain Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School, a Christian school in Hamburg, taking off the roof, destroying the gym, and knocking down several walls of the 46-year-old brick structure. Principal Rachel Wardecke was alone in the building at the time. Shaken, but not seriously injured, Rachel immediately told reporters, “Our school will open again.”
The BME school board and the Pennsylvania Conference of Seventh-day Adventist leadership are grateful for God’s protection and that no injuries were reported involving any students or staff.
Members of the local community immediately joined the school family, offering prayers and support in any way they could. Area businesses donated and delivered supplies. Walmart contributed cases of water. Lowes, the first on the scene with donations, brought tarps, water and various supplies. Pizza Hut and Dunkin Donuts brought pizzas and donuts for the volunteers. Local contractors offered their services for free, including George Keller’s tree service who removed a damaged tree near the structure.
Volunteers worked both Friday and Sunday after the tornado to remove debris and clean the site as much as safely possible. Even media personnel there to cover a story pitched in and helped with cleanup.
A demolition company will professionally remove the rest of the building.
Many local people offered help and or brought food, including Team Orwigsburg from St. John’s UCC. Others, including the Muhlenber Public Library, have offered books to replenish the school library.
Our staff, school board, students and families have been overwhelmed with the generosity, support and prayers of the community and would just like to take this opportunity to say, “Thank you!”
The tornado may have destroyed the building, but it did not destroy the future of Adventist education in Hamburg. BME has been serving families in the Hamburg and surrounding area since 1954 and is committed to providing students an Adventist Christian education that includes academic excellence, social development and spiritual growth.
The school opens as scheduled on Aug. 18. Blue Mountain Academy and Blue Mountain Academy church have both graciously offered the temporary use of their facilities for the coming school year.
On behalf of the entire Pennsylvania Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which owns and operates 14 Christian schools across the state of Pennsylvania, including Blue Mountain Seventh-day Adventist Elementary school, we wish to thank everyone for their expressions of assistance, generous gifts and the good-will that neighbors of our community extended to help up through this crisis.
Please know that we will always remember and cherish your support at our time of need.
