A Community Response to Disaster

[Sebastopol Grange 306]

After the Valley Fire erupted in Lake County last week, burning 75 thousand acres and destroying more than 500 homes, including Middletown, Cobb and surroundings, and forcing thousands of people to flee, disaster response began to mobilize, raising over $18,000.

In Sebastopol, locally owned Community Market and Andy’s Market began donation drives, with trucks streaming northward full of disaster relief supplies for Lake County residents. Restaurants held fundraisers. Evan Wiig of the Farmer’s Guild and the Sebastopol Grange organized a fundraiser in 72 hours, held last Thursday at the Grange. Chef’s pitched in, farmers donated produce, cheese makers donated cheese, dessert makers brought pies and cakes, Strauss ice cream was donated, and an amazing silent auction was held with seemingly countless donations. West County schools donated the use of their Analy parking lot and shuttle buses were donated. More than 300 people showed up and over $18,000 was raised!

As I watched all these events unfold it made me reflect on the power of community. Sometimes we feel discouraged because we feel unable to turn world events in a good direction. But when this disaster struck, the responses were, and continue to be, amazing. The feeling Thursday night at the Grange was beautiful, so many people united in service to those in need. One message I get loud and clear. Together united we are powerful. May we remember that and work together more and more.

Jerry Allen, President
Sebastopol Grange
sebastopolgrange.org

[Shepherd]

]Evan Wiig of the Farmers Guild sent out the following email this morning. By going to their website you can get more details and photos.

Farmers Guild Community Raises over $18K for Wildfire Victims
9/19/2015

On Thursday evening, while thousands fled the devastation of Lake County's Valley Fire that has so far consumed hundreds of homes and over 70,000 acres, our humble Grange Hall in Sebastopol, just sixty miles south of the inferno, overflowed with farmers, chefs and local food advocates who together raised over eighteen thousand dollars to aid victims of the wildfire.

Three days prior, when news of the fire was just appearing in headlines, Shannon Erickson Lee of Two Moon Family Farm in Sonoma, CA, posted on the Farmers Guild online forum "Can we maybe mobilize a farm-to-table potluck somewhere to raise funds for our farmer/ranch guild friends in lake county???"

That spark soon set off an inferno of its own. First came Kerrie Williams, who wrote "I'm really good with organization and would love to help! I graduated from middletown high and have been looking for a good way to help." Then Rob Hogencamp chimed in, Executive Chef of Sonoma West Medical Center, volunteering to help cook. And nearby Laguna Farm offered to drop off fresh produce. Robin Carpenter, of KWMR's Farm & Foodshed Report, began to coordinate a silent auction. And by the time Sarah Silva of Green Star Farm, Marianna Gardenhire of Forestville's Backyard Restaurant and a dozen others jumped in the fray, we at the Farmers Guild had no choice but to appease the masses and begin to organize.

[Magick]

this is the perfect community response that will actually help. The Red Cross was trying to turn away donations of goods because they want cash.
This is what was reported after Katrina..According to Richard M. Walden (president and CEO of Operation USA), it is estimated that 70% of the $1.2 Billion donated to Katrina-related donations went to the Red Cross, yet the Red Cross is fully reimbursed by the government for any shelters or emergency services they provide. Repeatedly, the Red Cross has run into trouble for spending much less on disaster recovery than they collect, shuffling the extra funds into their “national disaster account,” where it can be used for purposes other than that it was collected for. That’s the sort of trouble they saw in the aftermath of the 1989 San Francisco Bay Area earthquake, and after 9/11.
Let's make sure our help actually helps.

Farmers Guild Community Raises over $18K for Wildfire Victims

[Shandi]

What's missing for me is how this money will be distributed. Who's in charge of the funds?

[Thad]

Interesting to imagine, Hound Dog Wacco

What's missing for me is how this money will be distributed. Who's in charge of the funds?

[Shandi]

I sent an information request to Evan, and impulsively signed it, "WATCH DOG". I'd never seen myself that way before, so it must have been channeled. To see your comment calling me a Hound Dog, confirmed that I'm on the right path. I've often thought that I must have been a detective in my past life. Now I'm rethinking that to include the possibility that I might have been the detective's companion, who sniffed things out ahead of humans.

Interesting to imagine, Hound Dog Wacco