A Libby family affected by mercury exposure earlier this year is getting a helping hand from members of the community.

The contamination, caused after two children played with a fruit cup containing mercury, involved three homes and sickened four people. At least one Libby family is staying at a hotel while undergoing treatment. 

Moriah Roberts, a sister of one of those afflicted and a member of the Libby Troy Community Connection Facebook page, is leading an effort to help her family. In a social media post last week, she requested neighbors donate supermarket gift cards, warm weather clothes, blankets and pillows, household supplies and personal care items, like shampoo and conditioner. 

She is also hoping the community can help the parents with Christmas presents for their children.

An Amazon wish list has been set up for the family, Roberts wrote. Donations can be dropped off at New to You, a West Second Street pawn shop. 

“This community has been so amazing," she wrote. "[The] family thanks you for everything."

Roberts said three members of the family are on medication that will hopefully take the mercury out of their systems. None of them are hospitalized.

“Right now, I’m really hopeful the kids get their Christmas presents,” Roberts said. “They lost everything. ... The family is really appreciative of any gifts and we just want to give the kids a merry Christmas.”

AT A Dec. 3 meeting in Libby City Hall’s Ponderosa Room, officials offered more information and education, in the hopes of preventing future mercury exposures. 

Two of the three homes that saw mercury contamination a little more than a month ago on Spencer Road included what federal officials are calling a “source” house and a “spill” house.

The incident occurred in late October when a child’s friend brought a fruit cup filled with mercury to the child's home, according to officials with the Environmental Protection Agency. The mercury was taken from the friend’s grandparent’s collection. The mercury was spilled onto a rug in the child’s room and played with before the friend returned home. At that point, the resident child rolled the mercury beads into the rug and placed the rug under the bed. 

Once the source was determined, the homeowner turned over six bottles of mercury, totaling 30 to 35 pounds. 

Eric Sandusky, the Federal on-scene coordinator for the EPA’s Response Section Superfund and Emergency Management Division, spoke at length Wednesday regarding the spill, its effects and what officials are doing.

“The amount that was turned in to us from the source house is a fairly significant amount,” Sandusky said to a crowd of about two dozen people. "In 2025, about one-third of the calls we’ve responded to were related to mercury.”

According to the agency, EPA Region 8, which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 28 Tribal Nations, has responded to five mercury spills in 2025.

The house where the spill occurred is being demolished. That work began last week.

“The home had an extremely high level of contamination,” Sandusky said. “It was in the walls, the studs, the insulation. We determined buying a new home was the most cost effective way of dealing with the property.”

Sandusky said 11 property owners have called to get their homes checked for contamination and officials had done all but one, as of Wednesday evening. The home where the mercury came from has been cleared for reentry.

“For those who want screening, please call us and we’ll come,” Sandusky said.

According to the EPA, the agency has screened nine residential properties and four businesses/schools. Two residential properties and one school had minimal mercury contamination, which was cleaned.

Michelle Zeager, a medical officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, also spoke at length.

“Breathing mercury vapors are the way most people get affected,” Zeager said. “The amount, duration, general health of the person and their age has a lot to do with how each person will be affected.”

She recommended that people who believe they’ve been exposed leave the spill site and contact a health care provider.

OFFICIALS ARE hopeful that other area residents will check their homes and bring any mercury to the three county landfills in Libby, Troy and Eureka for safe disposal.

A fact sheet provided at the meeting included steps for the disposal of mercury.

After removing the material from inside the home, place absorbent material around the container of mercury before placing it inside a Ziplock bag or airtight container. Label it, “Mercury - DO NOT OPEN.”

After placing the container in a cardboard box for the trip to the landfill, place it in the back of a car or truck. If it needs to be inside the vehicle, it is recommended windows are opened for ventilation.

After arriving at the landfill, give it to the operator.

Mercury pickups are also available at any Lincoln County landfill, including the following: Libby Landfill, Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Troy Landfill, Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and the Eureka Landfill, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

EPA officials said before leaving Lincoln County, they will collect any mercury dropped off at the landfills. It will then be taken to a mercury holding facility in Texas.

“Hopefully an accidental spill can be prevented in the future,” said Beth Archer, community involvement coordinator for EPA’s Region 8.

According to a EPA fact sheet about elemental mercury, it was historically referred to as quicksilver. When dropped, elemental mercury breaks into smaller droplets which can go through small cracks or become strongly attached to certain materials. 

At room temperature, exposed elemental mercury can evaporate to become an invisible, odorless toxic vapor. If heated, it is a colorless, odorless gas.

According to the EPA, metallic mercury mainly causes health effects when inhaled as a vapor where it can be absorbed through the lungs. Symptoms of prolonged and/or acute exposures include: tremors; emotional changes (such as mood swings; insomnia; neuromuscular changes; headaches; disturbances in sensations; changes in nerve responses; and poor performance on tests of mental function.

Higher exposures may also cause kidney effects, respiratory failure and death.