An evening of inspirational music to help raise funds for the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the Okanogan County fires will be held at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 6, at Bellevue First United Methodist Church 1934-108th Ave. NE, Bellevue.

Local choirs and a guest pianist will provide the entertainment. The choirs include the Samoan Fellowship Choir, Riverton Park UMC; Trinity UMC, Seattle; Kent UMC, Kent; the Bellevue Praise Team, Bellevue UMC; and Signs of Glory, Fairwood UMC. The featured guest performer, John Nilsen, pianist, will be playing his unique variety of styles from jazz to hymn improvisations. John has played extensively across the Pacific Northwest, the United States and Europe.

During the summers of 2014 and 2015 historic wildfires devastated over 1.3 million acres of the Okanogan area.

Now, however, there is hope. Homes are being rebuilt and families and communities are beginning to recover. Thousands of hours of volunteer labor provided by hundreds of people have already built 30 homes. But there is still much to do. The rebuilding of lives is a tough, arduous job and help is needed.

Key staff people from the rebuild effort, supported by the Methodist Church and other faith-based groups, will give current information on the progress to date and what are future needs. It costs about $92,000 to build a home and at least 30 more homes are still needed. A free-will offering will be taken to help finance that effort.