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Tag Archives: North Bay

Optimistic evacuee looking on the bright side of life

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Cynthia Shaw

By Kathleen Maclay, Red Cross volunteer

Lori Rose of Lucerne isn’t one to let life pass her by – whether the nearly 84-year-old is making the most of being a Mendocino Complex Fire evacuee in a Red Cross shelter at Middletown High or zipping along Highway 20 bordering Clear Lake in a motorized scooter with a bright balloon trailing behind her.

To some, Rose’s life may sound challenging. After all, she’s blind in her right eye, she has diabetes, sometimes experiences vertigo and lost her husband to brain cancer in 1993.

But as she recounts being evacuated for the first time, it’s clear that Rose sees the glass as half full. Read more

Small kindnesses make the biggest differences

Posted on August 18, 2018 by Cynthia Shaw

by Kathleen Maclay, Red Cross volunteer

A tired Rose Santana went from table to table at the crowded Local Assistance Center (LAC) in Lucerne on Monday. She was looking for help and getting it. Signing up for Social Security, getting a temporary ID from the Department of Motor Vehicles, learning she needed a letter confirming she had lived in a motorhome on a friend’s Upper Lake land off White Rock Canyon Road from which she evacuated due to the Mendocino Complex Fire.

Santana, 64 and a Lake County resident since 1991, needed one more thing: a place to store her belongings – all contained in two rolling suitcases and a duffle bag. Read more

Community Connections Aids Recovery for Wildfire Survivors

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Cynthia Shaw

By Patricia Kemp, Red Cross Volunteer

Connie Sager didn’t hesitate when her phone started buzzing Aug. 3 with evacuation alerts. She scooped up her tiny dog, Taz, and headed for safe shelter. It was the third time this year Connie fled wildfires. But this time she had no home to return to in Spring Valley. The Mendocino Complex Fire swallowed the place she lived for 35 years. What remained were melted bedframes, a charred refrigerator, and clothes smoldered to gray ash.

“My house is a total loss, red-tagged. I’m not processing it yet,” she said. Read more

Local Leaders Join Red Cross California Northwest Chapter Board of Directors

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Kathryn Hecht

Santa Rosa, CA – August 16, 2018 — The Board of Directors of the American Red Cross of the California Northwest Chapter held its annual meeting in June and elected six new members to the board. Read more

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Thank you to Our Partners

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Cynthia Shaw

As communities across Lake County transition from response to recovery for the Mendocino Complex Fire, the American Red Cross would like to share its gratitude to all our partners that have worked so hard to care for the thousands of people impacted by this disaster over the past two weeks. Read more

Managing the Generous Donation of Goods

Posted on August 12, 2018 by Cynthia Shaw

By Kathleen Maclay, Red Cross volunteer

Every disaster seems to generate an avalanche of goods donations from the public, thanks to heart-wrenching appeals and visuals of people fleeing their homes with next to nothing. But can there be too much of a good thing? Read more

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