Tag: fire

Donations to Paradise

As mentioned in my blog on Tuesday, the proceeds and donations from my Love You A Latte event went straight to the fire victims in Paradise, CA. In addition, I posted that we were taking up donations on NextDoor, and many people went out of their way to donate items there. Last Sunday, we drove everything up to Paradise and the weather cooperated with blue skies. We knew the fire was devastating, but we were still shocked to see what kind of shape the town is still in and the needs of the people who lived there.

I want to say thank you one more time to everyone who contributed. We had three trucks full of donations; from tents, to pillows, boots, sleeping bags, food, and water. It was really an impressive showing of community support and appreciated by the folks of Paradise! Kathy, who was the inspiration for helping Paradise, also had two tables to donate and coordinated on the Facebook page “Paradise Fire Adopt a Family” with a family who indicated they would take them, prior to our drive up. They met us at the last ongoing facility that is still providing items to Paradise.

The Magalia Community Church has provided their parking lot to set up two tents: one for needed supplies, food, and clothing, and the other to serve food. In addition, they allow the use of their kitchen to serve meals in the other tent. We also volunteered our time helping unload bags and organizing some of the items. The biggest project was the shoes – they had been sorted through and in different locations, many were single shoes, so we dumped all the boxes and sorted them into pairs by men, women, and children. We ended up throwing a bag of single shoes out along with some very worn out pairs.

I also would like to give a big shout out to Noah’s Bagels for their donation of bagels – whatever was left over on Saturday before they closed, were donated and served for breakfast on Monday. The other giving business was 54 Mint on Locust who made fresh loaves of bread early Sunday morning. Those loaves were gone from the community store before we left. A reminder, that there is still a great need that won’t go away soon. If you really want to help, check out the Facebook site and it could be as simple as sending a birthday card to someone!

How to send help to the fire victims

Last week, a record-setting wildfire decimated the picturesque Napa, Sonoma and Santa Rosa areas. There are 40 people dead, at least 16 wineries destroyed, thousands homeless and hundreds still missing.

via PressDemocrat.com

It is one of the most gruesome, saddening natural disasters in California history. If you’re like me, and want to help out the victims of these fires and do whatever you can to restore those areas to their former selves, there are plenty of ways to donate.

One way is to send a box of fresh fruit and vegetables from Farm Fresh to Redwood Empire Food Bank. So far, they’ve donated more than 200 boxes to evacuation centers throughout Sonoma and Mendocino Counties.

For every box donated to Redwood Empire Food Bank, Farm Fresh to You – who we wrote about last week – will match that donation. Just click here if you’d like to help. I did and when I don’t want a box delivered to my house, I will click to donate.

There have also been numerous drives and charities springing up on social media in the wake of the destruction. One specifically mentioned on the TV briefings was Napa Valley Community Foundation. Or if your heart is with helping all the animals, Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch is an Amazon Smiles recipient.

 

 

 

 

 

These give assurances that your donation is going where it will be most useful. If you don’t want to get involved with those, many who have friends and family that have lost everything are taking up carloads of specific donations.

My friend’s parents and sister both lost their houses and she specifically asked for certain sized clothes and non-perishables. I rummaged through my home for clothes and supplies, plus gave a gift card to Trader Joe’s.

In the news briefing, they specifically requested to temper our donations, meaning they will still be needed two months from now, so maybe one day in the near future when you are feeling grateful for all that you have, you might think, “I would like to click on one of these links and donate $25.”