Status Report on Needs of Fire Victims as of Monday, October 29th

submitted by Bob Jackson

Fellow Kiwanians,

Judy Marshall and I were in East County burn areas today as the eyes and ears of all Kiwanians. We were greeted at each of our stops by Kiwanians in action already doing many of the things we all know need to be done.

It was very apparent that many of the lessons learned in the Cedar Fire have spawned new ways of thinking in the recovery effort.  In that regard, Senator Hollingsworth and his team have stepped forward to coordinate the needs of each community and to match those needs with known assets.  Kiwanis has a major role to play in this regard.

There will be a daily conference call hosted by the Senator’s team to identify new and pressing needs and to match them with available assets. We were a part of the first meeting and conference call today and were able to contribute to the overall view of today’s needs.

In our assessment of today’s needs we submit the following:

1. The need for temporary housing has been met by the major players (Wal-Mart, Rescue Task Force, Red Cross, et al).
2. Three hot meals a day are being provided for those who will travel to the relief centers.
3. Power will not be restored to many of our areas of concern until November 11^th. Flashlights and batteries are a major demand. 
4. In conjunction with that, the item most in demand is gasoline in small containers for individual generators, to enable people to pump water from their wells, for animals and cleanup.

In summation, the people of Campo, Potrero and Barrett are in better shape than most of us believed possible, largely due to the strong independent mindset of the people, many of whom are wearing the Kiwanis K. 

How can we help as individuals or as clubs?

• Wait for a call or email from Judy or myself regarding the outcome of the daily assessment meetings and strive to meet those needs.
• Today’s request from the assessment team was for flashlights, batteries, ground coffee (small cans or individual packets), hot chocolate, creamers and sweeteners, tea, breads or pastries not requiring refrigeration, and candy (some for Halloween, some for adults).  Also needed is cash for gasoline ( we don’t want to transport this in the trucks). This is all intended for family use as opposed to packaging in large quantities for relief centers. Judy or I will be calling particular clubs to make these requests so we can avoid duplicated effort and utilize our resources efficiently.
• The Alpine Community Center has offered to be a collection point for the donations, which can then be distributed to Potrero, Campo and Barrett by truckload.  In this regard, we would like to have a list by club of those Kiwanians with pickup trucks or SUVs who would be willing to help transport materials.
• For future planning, there will be a need to fabricate the screening boxes for site cleanups.  These are boxes approximately 2 foot square with mesh screen making it easier to retrieve small items from the ashes. These items cannot be purchased and must be fabricated.  This would make a great Division project: form a work party with a couple of radial arm saws, air compressors, and pneumatic nailers.  This will be scheduled within the next couple of weeks.  The Senator’s office will arrange for the needed materials.