Thanksgiving Day- Paradise Camp Fire

[Plumb Bob]

Apologies from the start if anyone on here feels it was inappropriate of me to post what I witnessed Thanksgiving Day at Paradise Camp Fire shelters and parking lots throughout town.

The second half of this year I was truly blessed with regards to employment as well as continually good health. I start orientation at Scripps La Jolla on November 26th therefore I was unable to join the crew on the trek down to see Rossman.
I decided to call upon my lifelong friend/veteran Brian and ask if he would join me on a road trip up north early Thanksgiving morning to Paradise to see what is needed by those affected by the fire.

We have all seen the news reels regarding what took place at the Paradise Camp Fire and continue to hear of many more deaths related to this tragedy. I started blowing up the shelter hotlines, tried continually to contact the Hospital Respiratory department, Facebook pages etc. and got nowhere, at least until I received a call back on November 20th from Patrick who is running the Goodwill shelter. I was told by Patrick that ALL the needs of those at the shelter were being met with an overabundance of food and clothing donations. I was told what was needed ONLY was gift cards.

On November 18th I drove out to LA to see a family who makes Tamales year round for a living. I asked the boys if I paid for in full now could their family fill a large order by 2am Thanksgiving morning. This family in my book are rockstars! I ordered 400 Tamales from them which I would pick up at 2am on my journey from OC to Paradise.
Brian and I had my Highlander packed to the gills with HOT tamales literally just out of the kitchen as well as donated clothing and other misc. supplies. I told Brian if my Highlander breaks down enroute, I will be selling Tamales at roadside and send money up north! My friends officially named my Highlander the Tamale Wagon! We had a plan to stop at a Walmart on the trek to pick up baggies, utensils, wipes, gloves, masks and in my opinion the most important item for those in shelters due to the rain in the forecast- HEAVY DUTY CONSTRUCTION GRADE TRASH BAGS!

We pulled into town early afternoon and from what we could gather as a great starting point would be the Red Cross Shelter at the Fair Grounds. At one entrance to this very small Fair Grounds we were greeted by a friendly security guard who told us that Red Cross would not take donated clothing if it was not new. I asked the security guard if he was from the area and he informed us that he was from Atlanta. He directed us to go around the corner of the Fairgrounds to the side entrance where the National Guard were stationed. At this gate we were greeted by friendly soldiers who informed us of what the security guard had told us. Brian being a Veteran asked if we could get an address to their Armory which they did supply to us.

As we were pulling away from the fairgrounds I saw a guy driving away in a stake bed truck loaded with several pallets of water and what appeared to be clothes in trash bags.I pulled along side of him and asked where he was headed and what was said to him here at the Red Cross Shelter? He informed us in a very confused look that the Red Cross stated their water needs had been met and turned down his 5 pallets of water as well as all the clean clothing he had brought along. We told the guy that we drove over 7 hours to be met with the same thing. He told us that his employer just finished a big project and the water was left over and asked his boss if he could personally deliver this 3 hours away to Paradise shelters.

The guy with the water was given the address to a Rescue mission and going to try there, we decided to follow him there. Arrived at the Mission and greeted by the nice gentleman who runs this place. He informed us that he had been truly blessed with donations and even had to rent a semi refrigerator trailer to house foods donated. This guy was so appreciative of us and our efforts and gave us another location to try just down the road. That location was a Church that happened to be another large Red Cross Shelter.

At the entrance to this Red Cross Shelter we were greeted by a friendly security guard who directed us to the entrance of the Church where the Red Cross staff were positioned. As we drove through the parking lot we saw tent after tent blowing sideways due to the winds and some rain. These were not tents set up by the Red Cross, they were the tents of the people who lost everything! A good majority of these tents had rips in them with old tarps covering partially and these people had every personal possession either in their tent or just outside in kitchen sized trash bags because that was what they were capable of grabbing trying to stay ahead of the fire.

Red Cross staff at this location turned down the food and supplies we had and initially turned down the 5 pallets of water that the guy drove 3 hours plus to deliver. After many calls the Red Cross agreed to have the guy take the water to another location of theirs for drop off. I asked the individual in charge for Red Cross the reason for not accepting clean clothes and she claimed due to the Norovirus. I asked if they had consulted with the CDC? I explained that if the virus is your top concern than having clean clothes could help so that the people could cycle through clothes more regularly. Without putting her down I even mentioned my background in Healthcare but she continued to regurgitate from the Red Cross Training Manual!

Even though they told me that they could not accept the Tamales or other food unless individually wrapped, I decided to walk in the rain to each tent throughout the shelter/parking lot. Many came out appreciative and emotional which made it difficult at times to hold my emotions in. We also gave away many heavy duty trash bags as well. Some of the individuals would not come from their tents even as I sat at the closed fly yelling for them. There were people there who had a car or truck only in their possession with all their personal belongings. One older lady had her truck running for heat when I approached her. All at the shelter were appreciative and never asked for money or even extra things fro m us even though they truly need things.

Brian and I were now on our way to the National Guard Armory to see if we could drop food and supplies with the soldiers. We were greeted by very friendly soldiers who expressed their gratitude to us for making the trek up there. Brian with his military background addressed those in charge and discussed with them what we were met with by Red Cross. One of the soldiers there gave us information that there were other encampments at Walmart and Lowes parking lots and recommended trying there before dropping off our supplies. We told them to at least take some and any left over Tamales we had would be delivered to them before our trek home. We gave them about 60 tamales to start and then headed to Lowes parking lot.

As we pulled into Lowes parking lot I noticed a VW camper with two people inside passing out food to the few people who were setup there in tents. I pulled along side and asked them how it had been trying to help out? They had been met with the same as us in regards to getting info on where people may be staying who truly needed supplies. They told us that they had driven a few hours to get there and the last stop they knew of was the Walmart parking lot. We offered this couple tamales and they accepted, then we followed them over to Walmart.

There was a large uHaul truck on the side of the lot and next to the Walmart lot was a large dirt lot with NO coverage whatsoever. There were lots of people in tents spread out everywhere, more than at the Red Cross Shelters. We were greeted by a guy who stated they setup there to help those evacuated that were not going to the Red Cross Shelters. They told us that many of the evacuees were so distraught over what they experienced and they were barely coming out of tents to eat.

This group that is setup at the Walmart Parking lot was far more organized than the above mentioned disaster relief group! Their volunteers did all they could to house the supplies, food etc. We mat a gal fro Austin Texas who drove out with a group of volunteers, she stated that she had lost everything even pets 2 years prior in a fire. She nailed it and told us that as individuals we need to bond together and do what these disaster relief organizations are unable to manage at times like this! This gal was getting setup there at Walmart parking lot to cook hot meals for the next few days.

Apologies for the long winded email! We arrived back in OC at 3:40am this morning. I did not video or take pictures out of respect!

Big Waters Edge reaches out to a large amount of fishermen and this site is what helped me keep my sanity when I returned back to school years ago. My hope is that members get the word out that there are many in need who are not financially stable that may have been renting and lost everything, not insured etc. They ABSOLUTELY DO NOT NEED THESE GIFT CARDS PRESENTLY!

They could ABSOLUTELY USE
1) Tents
2) Heavy duty Tarps
3) Waterproof heavy warm jackets
4) Heavy duty trash bags
5) Basically a Baja Fishing trip starter kit!
6) Duct Tape

IF ANYONE HAS A NOR CAL CONNECTION THAN I WOULD RECOMMEND HAND DELIVERING THESE ITEMS STARTING WITH WALMART PARKING LOT!

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. I truly hope I do not see any of you while on shift at Scripps, I will be in Trauma/ER Respiratory Therapist. I do hope to meet Mako Bob and fish with many of you post Flu season.

Happy Holidays,

Henry