I wonder how the people we saw in Chico and at the fairgrounds are doing now. When are the checks coming? How many are with relatives? How do you cope as the loss sinks in? How many have still not been found?
By B. Lynn Goodwin
Volunteers matter—especially when emergencies come up. At the Butte County Fairgrounds in November my husband and I found a mixture of hope and despair, of gratitude and anguish.
We couldn’t get near “Paradise Lost,” as reporters dubbed the Northern California town ravaged by fire, so we went to the tent cities at the Butte County Fairgrounds and the parking lot next to Walmart. We found unparalleled need along with volunteers helping those who’d lost everything but their lives.
My husband and I took a huge stack of $50 gift cards donated by people in our church. We followed the suggestion of a church guest, who returned to Paradise on weekends. He was there with his wife, who barely made it out ahead of the flames. They’d lost their home but had each other. He said, “Take gift cards and give them directly to the people.” My…
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B. Lynn Goodwin 