Support for Named Disaster: 2007 California Wildfires Support available at Katrina's Angels, Inc.

Well, I have wonderful news to report today. Bridget and her husband
returned over the weekend from a successful CA Fires Disaster Relief
trip.

Although somewhat contained, the Witch Fire was still burning at the
time. Many times, they were unable to get any signal from their cell
phones, either because the signals were only for emergency personnel,
or because so many cell towers had been destroyed by fire. For her
communication difficulties, Bridget said that Sprint gave credit for
her trouble with service and she will also be picking up a new phone.
On behalf of Bridget, thank you, Sprint.

When they reached Potrero, CA, they had a police escort that turned
out to be a tribal enforcement officer lending a hand where needed.
FEMA had not even made it there yet. They were stopped by a sheriff's
blockade that understandably searched the truck before allowing it
into the area.

Bridget reported that things in Potrero were sad simply because it
seemed that all the supplies they were getting came with conditions.
People there explained about the Blackwater group and what had
happened and what they were doing to their area. For more information
on that, see
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2007/11/1/22310/1835. They had
also lost a couple of their neighbors to death because of the fires,
and several of their animals also perished in the blaze.

Helped by Potrero residents Helen Kramer and Jill Michaels, Bridget
and Chris dropped off supplies at Potrero's volunteer fire
department, the local school, and the tent city. All of the water was
dropped off there, 460 cases of it, as they had and still do not have
any running water or electricity as far as we know. 60 % of the bags
of dog and cat foods went there as well. The blankets, and most
toiletries, as well as dry food, also were dropped off. There was not
a huge need for diapers or baby supplies, but they left some anyway.
Twenty $10 gift cards donated by Kroger/Ralph's food stores also were
distributed to the residents. Thank you, Kroger's!

In His Steps in Ramona, CA, a women's recovery shelter which had
burnt to the ground, received about 3 cases of diapers, 3 cases of
toilet paper, several bags of cat and dog food, and 14 large boxes of
assorted toiletries, dry food, and other items. According to the
Ramona Logistics Director, Bill, the supplies not needed by In His
Steps will be passed out to area residents in need.

In addition, about 20% of the bags of dog and cat foods that were
collected, along with some pet supplies, were dropped off at the San
Diego County Animal Shelter, which was running very low on supplies
and didn't expect any deliveries for a few days at least.

We at Katrina's Angels want to thank the University of TN volunteers
who helped during the CA Fires Disaster Relief Drive held in
Knoxville, TN last week. Helping Katrina's Angels to collect supplies
and other donations were: Jen McNaught, Jed Pruitt, Jorge Olivo, John
DeWitt, and Jeannie Montgomery. Thank you, you wonderful volunteers!

Katrina's Angels sends a big thank you to Kevin at Lane's Marine & U-
Haul in Halls, Tennessee for donating use of the truck to get our
supplies where they needed to go. We also want to thank the U-Haul in
Phoenix who came with a new truck when the first one broke down about
five hours from their destination causing an eleven hour delay, and
also sent two men who helped to unload the old truck and reload the
supplies into the new one.

And our thanks to Dental Works of Knoxville, who donated 50
toothbrushes and 50 tubes of toothpaste to the cause…

And a gigantic thank you to all the wonderful donors of the
Knoxville, TN area who helped to make this relief trip possible!

Oh, and here's another online story about this Drive:
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=7260927

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