Steve Barbour

Rocky Mountain Regional Director, Pilots for Christ

Although the state of Wyoming historically does not experience disasters, Steve Barbour has now assisted through the recovery of three, which all occurred during the same year. His first experience brought him to a small Eastern WY community, where he arrived on the second day of the response, and ended up staying for the next 16 months. Steve was instrumental in the formation of the LTRG and was then asked to stay on as an advisor. From there, he became the construction co-manager during the subsequent reconstruction of six homes, and was present at the dedication of those homes, less than two years after the flood.

As the fall season arrived and flood reconstruction was progressing, a major wild fire affected another community in central WY, and another LTRG was formed under Steve’s direction. Steve was involved to the final culmination of recovery efforts, when all funding had been dispersed and the LTRG was closed.

The third disaster was major flooding on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Here, his family ranch was affected, but the call to help the community became Steve’s concern. A recovery group came together, and Steve, through VOAD, sponsored a NCCC team to assist in reconstruction in the affected area, with the majority of the work being on the Reservation. Cultural diversity was easily overcome, as Steve worked with emergency managers from the county and the two different Tribes living on the Reservation. Steve became the recovery coordinator, then the project manager, all while co-leading a portion of the NCCC team.

Born and raised on a ranch, the outdoors has always been his arena. After a two-year stint of college, and a few years working on the family ranch, Steve saw the need for a ‘water well service’ business, where he ultimately established a career in maintaining and installing water systems, in the ranch communities of Wyoming. He has since retired after 35 years. Although he studied agriculture in college, the lure of helping people was to be his life commitment. Starting a business from scratch, building a home on a raw piece of land, starting a family and hard work were necessities, but helping others was always a passion.

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