At 3:05 a.m. Wednesday morning, I drove into the parking lot of my local Community Center. La Mesa is perhaps one of the safest places in San Diego County – if “safe” is measured in the number of communities between your home and a firestorm. The city may not be in harm’s way, yet officials still offered up their largest meeting space for collection of donated goods and as a coordination point to prepare meals for delivery to area evacuation centers.
Councilman Ernie Ewin had indicated he needed very early morning assistance to prepare egg sandwich breakfasts for the displaced hundreds staying six miles away in the gym at Steele Canyon High School . I imagined him trying to scrape together a crew of five to ten volunteers willing to set their alarms for 1:30 a.m., resulting in a short-handed, crazed rush of work prior to the planned 6:00 a.m. food pick up.
I should have known better of my community.
The parking lot was full of cars. About 200 volunteers were inside – Kiwanians, High School Key Club members and others – from throughout East County, diligently working in a well-coordinated operation to cook, prep and package the meals. Stacks of English muffins, crates of eggs and other food lined the walls. Trash cans were filled to the brim with empty containers. The place was abuzz, the workers cheery and enthusiastic while serious about the task at hand.
Even the requirement for licensed food handlers was met; a legal hurdle that could easily be overlooked in a crisis. Yet, every volunteer received training and a license from the County Department of Health Services the day prior.
In another large room, several volunteers sorted through piles of clothes, blankets, cots, pillows, toiletries and countless other items, much of it newly purchased by the several donors making drop offs since yesterday.
Assemblyman Joel Anderson was introduced and asked to make some comments. He was brief, thanking the volunteers for their hard work, understanding they didn’t show up at 2:30 a.m. to hear a speech.
Oscar Knight, governor of the California-Nevada-Hawaii district of Kiwanis International and a local chapter member, organized much of this effort. Councilman Ewin, along with La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid and Councilmembers Dave Allan, Mark Arapostathis and Ruth Sterling joined Knight in the coordination and planning. Wal-Mart, Costco and the Neighborhood Market Association came through with the first of many donations.
Stepping up were several volunteers from this and other nearby communities, in no imminent threat of fire danger themselves, but relating to the plight of those who might not know for a few days whether they will return to homes or rubble.
La Mesa is just one example of the kind of support efforts that have sprung up since Sunday. Qualcomm Stadium is the largest evacuation site and most removed from the fires, yet dozens of churches, schools and community centers are in use as well, smattered throughout the county. The willingness on the part of San Diegans to provide contributions of time and resources has been overwhelming, the Red Cross literally having to turn away some volunteers. Yet, that’s now.
In the next few days, the San Diego community will transition from firefighting to clean-up, and then rebuilding. Most evacuees will return to homes. Many will not, instead becoming long-term evacuees, some in need of the continued goodwill of their family, friends and neighbors. This will be a long haul.
There will be plenty of time for politics, for the inevitable “why,” the “what happened,” the “how could this happen again” questions. It is obvious that reverse 911 phone calls saved lives this time. The communication between agencies has been excellent, the response outstanding. The skill and courage of firefighters saved several homes. Yet, other questions remain. At least eight helicopters with water-dropping capabilities were still on the ground Wednesday afternoon, caught in a bureaucratic quagmire between Cal-Fire and the Feds. I’ll get into that in the days ahead, as will many others. Now, however, is the time to meet the immediate needs of our neighbors.
Oscar Knight knows a bit about such efforts, organizing now just as he worked to get supplies to stricken areas after the 2003 Cedar Fire. “Anytime there is a disaster that exceeds the normal ability of the community to handle,” said Knight, “it is incumbent upon the greater community to husband an effort to meet the need.”
Yes, Oscar, but it takes leaders to put it all together, to inspire the greater community to action as you have.
“The good and the bad of it?” he asked rhetorically. “The good is that I’ve done this before and there are lessons learned. The bad is that I’ve done this before and there are lessons learned.”
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