Services, Burials Scheduled for Young Victims of Flash Floods

Eight young victims of the Christmas Day flash floods will be remembered this Saturday at a funeral service in San Bernardino, and will be buried in a cemetery in the shadow of the mountains where they lost their lives.

As services are arranged for all 16 victims, grieving relatives are receiving help from church and community groups.

The Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America issued an urgent appeal Wednesday to parishes across the United States for contributions to an emergency fund for families of the victims.

“We were deeply saddened by the tragedy in San Bernardino,” Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, said from his headquarters in New York. “The unexpected and harsh death of so many people, on Christmas Day, is a shocking reality that is not easily confronted.”

In a letter to be read at all 520 Greek Orthodox parishes in the U.S. on Sunday, Demetrios will ask the church’s 1.5 million members to contribute to a fund for the families of victims, his office staff said.

The Unforgettables Foundation, an Inland Empire nonprofit organization that helps poor families with burial costs and grief counseling, held a memorial walk Wednesday afternoon for children who died in San Bernardino and Riverside counties this year, including the young flood victims.

“Both parents died in some cases, and one parent in others, so there is no question these families are going to be financially challenged,” said Tim Evans, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor who founded the group.

He said the families’ pastor had asked for help earlier in the week. The foundation, which had already received $3,000 for the families, will provide $500 per child to defray burial costs.

The tragedy left at least 15 dead, including two victims from a KOA campground in Devore, and at least 13 at the St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Camp in Waterman Canyon.

Still missing is a 12-year-old boy -- a likely 16th fatality -- who was probably swept away with the other victims at the church camp.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies will resume searching for his body in the next several days, said spokesman Chip Patterson.

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Church of God Prophecy in San Bernardino, where 10 of the church camp victims were members. Among them were Jorge Monzon, caretaker of the St. Sophia camp, his wife, Clara, and their three children, Wendy, Raquel and Jeremiah.

“God has given us the strength to do this. It’s sad,” said Pastor Emilio Ruedas. “But that’s part of life and we face it the way it comes. Our faith grows more.”

Father John Bakas, dean of St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles, on Wednesday urged his parishioners to attend the service at the San Bernardino church, at 3030 N. Del Rosa Ave.

“Jorge was a well-respected friend deeply loved and admired by us all,” Bakas said. “We’ve watched little Raquel grow up and so recently welcomed baby Jeremiah. Our devastation is indescribable, and life without the Monzon family leaves a void in our cathedral ministry.”

Bakas said the Monzon family will be buried in Guatemala.

Bakas said a memorial service was held last Sunday at the Los Angeles cathedral, and that he had held services at the church camp last Monday, the first day that authorities would allow anyone other than emergency workers to enter the area.

The risk of mudslides will continue through the winter, and probably through next winter as well, authorities said. They urged those potentially in harm’s way not to take chances, and to get out if their property is threatened.

The Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday announced that $4.5 million in federal emergency funds had been allocated to hire contractors to clear debris at Deer Creek and other badly clogged debris basins. The basins collect rocks, trees, mud and other material to keep it out of flood control channels.

County and state officials pleaded for federal help after discovering that many of the basins were filled after the Christmas Day storm.

“The debris basins did exactly what they were designed to do,” said Ed Andrews, Los Angeles district chief of emergency operations for the Corps.

Contributions to victims may be sent to the following organizations: The Unforgettables Foundation, P.O. Box 84, Redlands, CA 92373, phone (909) 725-9197; St. Sophia Cathedral, Mudslide Victims Fund, 1324 S. Normandie Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90006; and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Mudslide Victims of San Bernardino, 8-10 E. 79th St., New York, NY 10021.