After fleeing wildfire, 85-year-old Ricon Valley resident is grateful for Red Cross help
By Cindy Huge

(Photo by Cindy Huge)
With only a few moments notice, Marianne Majer quickly evacuated her home of 47 years.
“I woke up to my neighbors loudly knocking on my door,” she recalls. “They said I must immediately evacuate due to a fire in the area. I grabbed my purse, car keys, medication, and a few clothes and quickly left my home,” Majer said. Read more
Tom Freitas, a senior citizen, and his stepson, Mark Johnson, refer to each other as father and son. Mark said he brought his father to the Sonoma County Red Cross Service Center this morning because “The Red Cross can provide us help.”
Jamie Rosales lives in Oakmont, one of the Santa Rosa neighborhoods devastated by the wildfires. His neighbor woke him up at 1 a.m. Monday. They were told to leave and found a Red Cross shelter through word-of-mouth.
The volunteers at a Red Cross shelter find they often have a great deal in common. In fact, at the Santa Rosa Veterans Hall Shelter, the group that randomly came together to help evacuees found they had less than 6 degrees of separation among them.