How to help North Bay Fire Victims
Our hearts are filled with sadness at the loss of life and widespread damage caused by the fires in the North Bay. One Rotarian's grandson was killed, and many Rotarians are displaced.
CASH DONATIONS, GIFT CARDS, and GAS CARDS NEEDED Organizations, including North Bay Rotary Clubs, are not set up for distribution... and all used clothes must be cleaned before it can be given out. They still have clothes from the Lakeport fire a couple of years ago! As you can imagine many people left their homes with the clothes on their backs. One of the Rotarians ran out of the house with her purse - only to discover she grabbed the wrong purse - no money - no ID. She also had two different shoes on as she got dressed in the dark. They need cash/gift cards for basic toiletries, some clothes, and etc. If you send a store gift card - make sure there is a store that is located in the effected areas.
PLEASE: NO CLOTHES OR PHYSICAL GOODS at this time. There are no hands-on volunteer opportunities planned at this time. I am sure that after the fires are out ... there will be plenty of hands-on opportunities that we will coordinate with them.
DONATIONS AND INFORMATION:
Rotary International Website info (under News Tab & Features):
District 5130 has direct link to their 501(c)(3) for fire victims (reactivated from previous fires in Lake County) and mailing address:
Every dollar donated goes directly to aid fire victims.
If you would like to drop off a check, gift or gas cards at our District Foundation event on Saturday Oct 21 we will mail it to D5130, unless you specifically want it to go to 5160, 5180 or 5190.
FUTURE PLANS: The District Governors will be working with The Rotary Foundation to establish a California Fire Donor Advised Fund on Monday - to accept donations from around the world. (although the CA Fires is only one of many disasters in the last few weeks) This will probably take a few days. One of the things that D5130 is considering is to also give out small $2,500 grants to local businesses after the dust settles - as small businesses are the lifeblood of the communities.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the fires, including the firefighters and first responders. May everyone be safe ....