NorCal Support

On December 23rd, members of the Boy Scouts delivered 5,000 gifts from our warehouse in San Jose four hours north to Chico. With the impressive direction of Paradise organizers, they set up shop in the Chico High School gym, enlisting the help of local volunteers--many of them Camp Fire victims themselves--to direct the flow of families. Families arrived, showed ID, and were guided through the "store by “shoppers” who helped them find the items they most needed and wanted. Because of this multi-community effort, approximately 900 families received gifts. Family Giving Tree’s contributions were sponsored by the amazing donors who gave to our Giving Tuesday campaign--a big thank you to all of our donors and volunteers who went the extra mile (or 200 miles, as the Boy Scouts did)

Dean McCully, Troop Leader, was astonished by the outpouring of community support, particularly from children who had lost everything: “Most of the Paradise volunteer kids still have virtually nothing, yet they almost all turned down our offers of gifts until the end of the day when they were certain other kids received gifts first. Parents told us story after story of how their fire-affected kids have been going around at schools and sharing backpacks/supplies/clothes to kids who have even less than they have... The Paradise fires are somehow building some incredibly generous future leaders.”

In November 2018 almost 14,000 Butte County residences were destroyed by the Camp Fire. Four months later, the devastation persists. Public and private lots need to be cleared of debris and declared safe before any construction can take place, assuming the displaced owners have the financial resources to rebuild from the ground up. If you’re interested in supporting the victims of the fire, we recommend looking into United Way of Northern California (financial donations) and the https://www.nvcf.org/ (financial and vehicle donations, volunteer opportunities).