I’ve been scrambling since Friday working to help evacuees from the Camp Fire in Paradise, California. I just wanted to share some observations and stories that others in fire-affected areas can use to improve service to evacuees.
On Thursday morning Paradise was evacuated. It was a nightmare. I spent Thursday night glued to my television waiting to hear if my neighborhood would be evacuated. We weren’t. On Friday morning I set out to help evacuees. What a pain in the ass.
The news urged people who wanted to help to go to a place called Caring Choices and they would dispatch us to where we were needed most. Two hours there filling out paperwork and waiting for an interview. We finally left after a worker said they would call us to come in. We headed out to the airport to drop off fabric for dog bedding (there is an animal rescue facility housed there in the terminal). We were told they needed help, they said we couldn’t help until we were cleared from Caring Choices. Still waiting for the call we went home for more fabric then decided to stop at the Elk’s Lodge to see if they needed anything for the pets housed there. At the donation center things were stacking up, we asked if they needed help and we started carrying things in and organizing supplies. It was chaos. Up front people were told we didn’t need help; in the back we were desperate. Still no call from Caring Choices.
If you are donating for fires or any emergency there are stages where certain items are needed. We were flooded with clothes. Bags and bags of clothes. We can’t do much with them. I opened as many as I could to find XXL and larger sizes, and pull out blankets and sweat pants but for the most part they were piled up in a mountain in a room and dealt with slowly.
Please bring blankets, pillows and pillowcases. Any bedding. But before taking it to a distribution center, go to large parking lots where evacuees are staying and offer the items there. We had a room full of bedding and no one was coming to get it because the evacuees didn’t know we had it. Eventually volunteers (none cleared by Caring Choices who still haven’t called us for that interview) started loading up trucks and vans and driving piles of blankets, pillows, coats, etc. to Walmart, Raley’s, Home Depot etc. They were swarmed with desperate people. Meanwhile the donations kept piling up. It would have been better for donors to go directly to the people.
Space is limited. In the first hours and days after a crisis we can’t handle donations of off-season clothing, shoes without pairs, or non-functional items. Today we are literally just loading piles of clothing into containers and holding it for later. It would have been so much better to not have to dig through all of it to find the things people needed.
If you want to help you don’t need to go to a shelter. Again, the real work happens in the parking lots. Get an ipad with cell service and head to the parking lots. Start talking to evacuees and asking them if they are registered with Safe & Well. Many of the evacuees we saw didn’t have cell phones or if they did they weren’t charged, and they don’t use social media. They weren’t seeing tweets, or facebook posts about where to go for resources and had no idea how to find their families and friends. They also just want someone to talk to so helping them register at Safe & Well is a chance for them to have some conversation and company.
Talk to evacuees and see what they need. People in the shelters have a cot and a roof over their head. Many others are sleeping in their cars. I saw elderly people asleep in the front seat of their cars with no blankets and nothing to give them any privacy. Many people donated sheets that we were able to pass out for them to hang in their windows. They don’t have camp chairs so they sit on the ground in the sun. Some people were sleeping on the pavement under their cars or trucks. No shade. No money to buy gas and they don’t want to lose their parking spot so they don’t risk driving around trying to find supplies.
Blast out needs on social media. Someone was dropping off books and magazines at one parking lot and blasted out items that were requested and more and more people were showing up with them. I saw grown men break down sobbing when they were offered cigarettes. A man who had only one blanket and refused to take another because he felt someone else would need it more finally broke down and accepted cigarettes. The person delivering those set up a GoFund Me to buy more. The WalMart was completely sold out.
Don’t listen to the shelter staff or anyone telling you they don’t need help or don’t need supplies. I was told several times that places didn’t need volunteers and around back they were desperate for help. One shelter told us they didn’t need any blankets and as the people walked away a woman from inside came out and asked if they had any blankets because people inside were asking for them.
Many people in their cars have no leashes for their dogs. No food or water dishes. There was a lot of pet food donated but they didn’t know where to get it and as I mentioned, many didn’t have the money for gas to drive around and find it. They don’t have litter boxes or carriers for their cats.
If you have extra camping gear take it to them. They need camp chairs, camp tables, propane stoves (with the propane), lighters, sleeping bags, etc. They are camping in parking lots and pretty much any camping gear would be welcome. Helping to set up a community area for them would be beneficial.
Here is where I thank WalMart. Something I never expected to do. They have welcomed evacuees. They allow food trucks to roll in and feed people. They allow people to pitch tents there. After many pleas on social media to send donations directly to the people they have set up a distribution center of sorts where people are dropping off items. The evacuees are sorting through and organizing them which gives them something to do to kill their time. One group has a tarp draped between two tents and they are all sleeping on concrete. The woman said if we ran into someone who had nowhere to go to send them to her because they would make room for them.
I’m sure the Red Cross serves a purpose but if you want to immediately help a lot of people, giving money to the Red Cross is not the way to do it. They are unhelpful, refused donations of blankets at their shelters and discouraged volunteers. I realize they have their own way of operating but if you are trying to comfort suffering people, they will piss you off.
We are a few days into this nightmare and the needs are changing. But people are still living in cars in parking lots. Sleeping under tarps or in tents on pavement. They are still thirsty and don’t know where to get water. They are desperate for interactions with others and just want to talk and feel normal. In my experience the best way to make an impact is to get out on the ground and find out what people want and then try to get it for them.
Thanks to everyone who has donated to help these people. We are in desperate need and there is no end in sight.
