Forty Pathfinders and their leaders dug ditches, lugged sandbags, and laid straw rolls in strategic locations late last November to help Adventist victims of wildfires protect their property from potential floods and mud slides.

"At one site, three gullies funneled downhill toward the property," said Craig Adams, who with his wife, Susan, directs the Valley Center Pathfinder Club. "All the vegetation had burned away. During winter rains, they would definitely be in trouble."

The project originated when Gary Lewis, Pathfinder coordinator for North San Diego County, asked Adams what young people could do after wildfires devastated areas near Valley Center last October. Pathfinders from Fallbrook, Oceanside and the Vista Spanish churches joined the Valley Center club during the work bee.

"We split into two groups," Craig Adams reported. One assisted Susan Collins in shoveling a recent mudslide away from her home, digging a diversion channel for future slides, and sandbagging the channel so that water or mud would travel back to the creek, not into her home. Pathfinders came armed with their own shovels and worked diligently to remove debris.

"I didn't see how I could do all that sandbagging and digging by myself before the rainy season," Collins said. "I was thrilled to receive the help."

The second group focused on the site where Sandy Mills had lived, located near the home of her parents, Duane and Perry Froning. Their home was spared, but the fire had devastated the hillside behind them and destroyed their daughter's mobile home. Potential mud slides could easily damage their home and what was left of Mill's trailer pad.

A FEMA engineer had sketched a plan for installing straw rolls and gravel bags along three ravines. The rolls and bags had been delivered, but Mills realized she didn't have the muscle power to put them in place. Pathfinders arranged and staked down each straw roll according to the engineer's plan, reinforced them with the gravel bags, and then spread seed provided by FEMA to help native grass grow back on the hill and hold the soil.

Despite sore muscles and hard work, the Pathfinders celebrated the project's success later that afternoon by devouring pizza before returning to their homes.