Tye and Melynda Home Project

Donations can be made directly to Cascade Relief Team, OR If you would like to Donate Via GoFundme  feel free to do so here: 

Melynda and Tye Housing Project | Created by Cascade Relief Team (gofundme.com)

In mid-September, a spark ignited at the top of Echo Mountain and Otis was set ablaze. Residents fled, grabbing what personal items they could, as 50 mph coastal gales quickly spread flames. In the end, the Echo Mountain Complex fire was a small, 2,500-acre blip in a massive fire season that saw 1.1 million Oregon acres burn. Even so, it destroyed about half of Otis's 1,241 structures, with 288 homes and 339 structures lost, according to Oregon Emergency Management and Matthew Dennis from the News Guard

Melynda Small and Tye Small were among those who lost their home in the Echo Mountain Complex Fire. They have a family of seven including Tye’s Father, all of them living in hotels or a donated RV. Indeed, like many of their Otis neighbors, they share a common bond that no one would ever want to: great parents, dedicated to their family, all while dealing with their own personal hell or recovery.

What sets them apart, however, is Tye and Melynda have led the Echo Mountain Volunteer Cleanup Project. Even before cleaning up their own property, they have been steadfast as they’ve helped dozens of fire survivor families clean up their lots so they can start the healing and rebuilding process sooner than later. They are literally bringing the town of Otis home, and have been every single day for months.

This is not an exaggeration. They’ve worked every day for the past 155 days without taking a single day off. This includes Thanksgiving and Christmas, where Tye and Melynda made sure fire survivors had a Christmas buffet they could go to, when COVID had closed everything in town.

It’s hard to explain everything they’ve done. Holiday meals, connecting survivors to other volunteer resources, even understanding government paperwork, it’s all part of their service on Echo Mountain. Physically, they’ve been responsible for the removal of nearly 1 million pounds of metal, asbestos and other fire debris. Financially, they’ve enabled more than $1.2 million dollars in savings for fire survivors alone. 

What started as a small volunteer project has now been recognized as nationwide as bringing people home - and giving people hope.

For Tye it’s simple: "We don't take days off.” There’s too much to be done. They don’t even take hours off, even when they plan to. “Well, one day we were going to come in later. But my wife got me out of bed two hours earlier,” he said, smiling. “It's what we do."

Along the way they have asked for not a single thing from their community.  They’ve watched as nearly three-dozen homes have been brought into Otis, with more families returning each day. Melynda does her best to make sure she is present for every home that comes in, and is beyond happy for each time a property owner becomes a homeowner again. 

Melynda and Tye will never tell you that they should’ve already been one of them.

Their community feels differently. Which is why at first a few - and now a lot of - people have stepped up, and recognized that if anyone deserves a home it is Tye and Melynda. 

Cascade Relief Team and a few key people would like to help Tye and Melynda get a home! This is an opportunity for communities and organizations to step up in a big way to help not only fire survivors but 2 heroes and their family have a home. 

Our goal is to collect $200,000 dollars in monetary donations and in kind donations. If you’d like to know how you can help, go to cascadeRelief.org/tmsmallhome or email marc@cascaderelief.org

From the very beginning Melynda and Tye have been clear that their job is not done until every family who can come home does. Our job is clear now, too: Melynda and Tye have to be among them - and we’d love your help.

Plan of Action:

Our Goal is to Raise $100,000 for Tye and Melynda to Build a home, and to cover a temporary living situation while waiting on the home to be built and completed. Extra funds will go to Tye and Melynda Small, and or used to help other survivors at their discretion.

Key People and Project Management:

Jeremy Page - Page Concrete and Construction

Marc Brooks - Cascade Relief Team

Corey Rivera

Ralph Beavers

Norma Jean Washburn