In order to encourage community support for fire victims, KCHO/KFPR has incorporated into their Fall 2008 pledge drive the opportunity for donors to have a portion of their donation designated for fire victims, through the North Valley Community Foundation. Throughout the pledge drive, donors will be given the option of giving 5% of their donation to fire victims in lieu of a pledge gift.

Purpose:
The Summer of 2008 saw extraordinary destruction of homes and property from wildfires, especially in Butte County. In response, NVCF created several funds to enable community members to make donations. 

Five different Fire Funds were created to provide a variety of ways for donors to make a difference. These include a Fire Victims Fund, a Disaster Response Fund for organizations responding to the fires, a fund for the North Valley Animal Disaster Group, a Fund for the American Red Cross.  In addition, a NVCF donor established an Older Adults Fire Victims Fund (seed gift of $10,000) to provide aid to individuals 65 and older. 

During the summer approximately $25,000 was collected and distributed by the North Valley Community Foundation.

The Foundation also established with local Concow residents, the Concow Phoenix Fund for donations specific to reconstruction after the fires in their community.

Summer Process: The North Valley Community Foundation established an independent community-based Fire Funds Committee.  This committee determined that in Butte County, the Red Cross was the primary agency responsible for meeting the needs of fire victims in the first few days and weeks following the fires. 

A professional emergency response team from the National Red Cross was responsible for interviewing fire victims, assessing needs and dispersing vouchers to meet immediate needs.  Careful records were kept of each household. Based upon this information, NVCF granted Red Cross funds per family, individual or household need.  As previously mentioned, one NVCF donor designated $10,000 for seniors. With the information provided by Red Cross, this donation was sent to Red Cross for those households with individuals aged 65 or older.

Although the vast majority of donations from the NVCF Fire Funds Committee were made on behalf of fire victims, several hundred dollars was also donated for organizations responding to the fires. This was given to Oroville Church of the Nazarene, Neighborhood Church of Chico and Caring Choices. The first was used as impromptu evacuation center, and Caring Choices worked closely with Red Cross throughout the fire evacuations and relief efforts, especially with case management.

Butte County Relationships– As stated above, Red Cross worked closely with Caring Choices during and after the fires. Caring Choices has provided a variety of health services for the past 20 years, primarily in-home care. They were also instrumental in the creation of the local Volunteer Center, a computer assisted matching program, also part of a state wide network (with disaster response a high priority).  The Volunteer Center is housed at and staffed by Caring Choices. Prior to the fires, Caring Choices was also providing office space for Red Cross, which has not had a Butte County office in recent years. Once the disasters hit, Caring Choices (and the Red Cross) became the central point for the human dimension to the emergency relief efforts. Case management for fire victims continues to be provided by Caring Choices, with Red Cross emergency response efforts long since completed.

NVCF will continue to work closely with Red Cross and Caring Choices to identify fire victims in Butte County who should receive financial assistance. They have been working directly with victims and have first hand knowledge of needs. In addition, NVCF has a relationship with North Valley Catholic Social Services, which received a grant from Catholic Charities to provide counseling for fire victims at no cost. They have also been alerted to the existence of the NVCF Fire Victims’ Fund and its availability for needs of victims they may encounter.

Shasta/Trinity Counties – Although there was extensive acreage burned this summer in Shasta and Trinity counties, relatively few homes were lost. Nonetheless, we believe that donations from residents in that area should be distributed in that area. To that end, contact has been made with local organizations that provide services to those residents. With a relationship already established in Butte County, Caring Choices (and its Volunteer Center) also has an office and provides services in Shasta County. They work closely with the Shasta County Red Cross and Office of Emergency Services and are eager to assist NVCF is identifying fire victims in that area who could benefit from donations.

In addition, contact has been established by NVCF with Salvation Army in Redding, an organization that had a principal role in local evacuations during the fires in that area and continues to work with families impacted by the fires. They also are willing to help NVCF identify fire victims that can benefit from donations.

Contact Information:
Alexa Valavanis, CEO of the North Valley Community Foundation
(530) 891-1150 or avalavanis@nvcf.org | Website www.nvcf.org
To make an additional donation to the Fire Victims Fund www.nvcf.org/donate