Helping Hands

New Year's Day 2012 will be one that the MacGregor family here in Bellingham -- dad, mom, and two daughters, ages 10 and 13 -- will always remember, but not for a happy reason.

Their rental house was consumed by fire and they barely escaped with their lives. All of them had to be airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, which houses the regional burn center.

Nearly 20,000 patients have been treated there since it opened in 1974, and the survival rate is over 97 percent. Such care does not come without a considerable cost, however. The MacGregor daughters have insurance through the state, but the parents have no health care insurance, and they did not have renters' insurance either, so they are facing huge bills at a time when they've lost everything they owned and cannot work.

The local community has rallied around the family, providing everything from clothing, toiletries, and other necessities to a fully furnished house, and a group has coalesced to help raise money for the MacGregors' medical bills and living expenses. This afternoon Phil and I went to their first fundraising event, held at the Blue Horse Gallery downtown, which included music, a bake sale, and a silent auction.

Given the local firefighters' role in saving the family, it was particularly appropriate that the Bellingham Firefighters Pipes and Drums took part in the event. We always enjoy seeing -- and hearing -- this group, and knew we'd find something to blip.

The gallery lighting was challenging, but each of us managed to bring home some blip possibilities. If you look closely in the background of the photo above, you'll see Phil from one of the vantage points he held while the group was performing.

We later enjoyed shooting some close-ups of the bass drum (clearly in an art gallery setting) and some lovely bagpipe drones, not without a few comments such as "I saw that first!" "No, that's mine!" I could not resist this still life as well, even though it had nothing to do with the event.

It's great to be able to help people while having a good time yourself!

(Here's Phil's impression of today's event -- you might enjoy the link to an earlier photo of me with the firefighters.)