Your Red Cross Update

By Virginia Hart and Valerin Lopez, volunteer contributors, American Red Cross

Joan Jacobs, from Hidden Valley in Lake County, CA, received a phone call on Friday, July 31, advising her that Channel 7 was reporting that Hidden Valley Lake was about to be evacuated. “I went to tennis and people were packing their cars and I said in disbelief, ‘We can’t be impacted here!’ When I asked where people were going to go, they didn’t know. A friend offered their home. There was ash falling on the tennis courts and at the table where we were sitting. As the ashes fell, there was a greater concern. I chose to go to the evacuation center at Middletown High School to find out if I was being evacuated.” In her pink tennis dress, Joan walked through the door and was greeted by Red Cross volunteer and Shelter Manager, Margot Simpson. Read more