From the cutting room floor: Grace under fire

Johnson joined about 50 other volunteers and missionaries on Wednesday at the San Bernardino Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints in preparing and packing about 2,000 sack lunches for evacuees at the National Orange Show Events Center. One day earlier, the same group put together about 500 lunches for crews on the fire lines in the local mountains.

Johnson, a tall, svelte mother of three, said springing into action to volunteer services to others is a way of life.

“When the fires started, all the (church) sisters called each other started thinking about how we could help,” she said.

Johnson went to the National Orange Show, the areas largest evacuation center, on Tuesday to assess how many lunches they should bring.

“It was sad,” she said of the scene at the NOS, where more than 1,000 people are camped in the parking lots and the makeshift dormitories. “It looked to me like they needed another shelter.”

Johnson will probably be volunteering her services for lunches today and beyond. Her church is partnered with the Red Cross, which is overseeing the evacuation center, to provide food to the refugees.

“The fire may be put out soon, but people will still be needing help,” she said.