Tornado destroys home of priest! Let’s get them a new home!

It was 7:45 in the morning on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The Rev. Kim Fonder, “Father Kim,” had just sat down in his ranch house to enjoy his second cup of coffee as the house hummed with the happy sounds of the grandkids waking up and starting their day. Father Kim noticed the wind pick up as he sipped his coffee. Suddenly everything got quiet. No wind. No noise. “Tam...?” he called uncertainly to his wife of 35 years.

Before she could answer, the roar of a train came at them all. The telltale sound of a tornado. His wife Tammy grabbed their two-year-old granddaughter and they all raced toward the basement. Tammy and the girls made it to the third step and Father Kim was swinging the basement door shut behind them as the roof tore off and sheetrock and insulation crashed onto his head. Hanging onto the doorknob for dear life so he didn’t go flying away with the roof, Father Kim shut his eyes and prayed as the house lifted into the air.

Five minutes later, the tornado had passed, leaving in its wake a destroyed home. Checking on the dogs and horses who were surrounded by debris, all were safe.

And now it’s time to rebuild a home. Having just moved back to the family homestead after many years away, insurance had long been canceled as the house was vacant and had been vandalized. The family was in the process of getting it fixed up to be insurable again when the tornado hit.

Father Kim moved back to the place of his wife Tammy’s birth in Lower Brule to retire from a long life of service. Retirement wasn't yet to be as the Lower Brule Indian Reservation needed Father Kim as a priest. Putting retirement on hold, Father Kim willingly serves the seven churches, a role that he has been in for many years, having served the past nine years on the Standing Rock Reservation. As Father Kim says, “If I don't have at least seven churches, I don't know what to do with myself!” He has also faithfully served the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota as Treasurer of the Niobrara Council, on Standing Committee, as a deputy to General Convention, and as a member of the House of Deputies’ Committee on the State of the Church. Prior to that, he served as a police officer, even being the youngest Chief of Police in the State of South Dakota at age 20! When he later became an Episcopal priest and called a former Chief of Police to let him know, he said, “Well, that’s not a surprise, that’s what you were doing all those years as an officer.”

In their early 70s, Father Kim and Tammy Fonder show no sign of slowing down their lives of service, serving the churches on the reservation as well as raising three young grandchildren with diagnoses ranging from ADHD to Autism. And now this couple who never hesitates to help others, needs help themselves. Together let's provide this amazing family with a new home!

A prefabricated double-wide three-bedroom home in South Dakota ranges from $400,000 to $450,000 with all associated fees. A price tag that is entirely out of reach for the Fonders. Let’s not hesitate to get this little family settled before the South Dakota winter is upon us. Please share this with your family, friends, and colleagues far and wide, and show a humble, good-hearted priest and his family that they are valued, appreciated, and not forgotten in their time of greatest need!