Amid Vicious Fires, San Diego Shows Generosity

In what’s being referred to as the worst fire in California history, half a million citizens of San Diego County have been evacuated to more secure locations. Many don’t know whether their homes are still standing and had to flee with only a few changes of clothes and important documents. But they are being well taken care of by County officials and volunteers who have come out in force to care for their disadvantaged neighbors.

At Qualcomm Stadium, the call went up for food for the evacuees and made its way out over the airways. The people of San Diego County responded so that, by 10 o’clock in the evening, Qualcomm was host to more than just evacuees. The promenades of the stadium were stacked high with bottled water, blankets, pillows, air mattresses, cots, and sleeping bags. The call for food was so successful that later in the evening they had to ask people to stop donating food; they had plenty.

In Chula Vista, a city ravaged by fire, Mayor Cheryl Cox asked for donations of sleeping bags and air mattresses. In addition to donations from Wal-Mart and Chiles for supplies and good, neighbors of Chula Vista brought blankets and pillows, sleeping bags and cots, and air mattresses for elderly evacuees.

Accredited, qualified teachers from the San Diego County area were invited to go down to Qualcomm Stadium to entertain and teach children who had been evacuated there. According to officials, it is important to distract the children from the trauma of the fire. So far, San Diego’s teachers have responded admirably, and other entertainers have volunteered to go to Qualcomm Stadium to entertain the children there.

Meanwhile, at the other evacuation centers, supplies are being distributed as quickly as possible. At Del Mar Fairgrounds, the second largest evacuation center after Qualcomm Stadium, every accomodation possible has been made by the facilities to house not only people but large animals like horses. However, the Del Mar Fairgrounds is no longer accepting evacuated animals. They are still accepting evacuated people.

San Diego High School, another evacuation center, is housing a large number of senior citizens–some as old as 98 years old–and are requesting that any supplies that are tailored for senior citizens be sent to San Diego High School directly. This includes wheelchairs, air mattresses and pillows. At that area, the senior citizen refugees are having to sit and lay on the hard wooden benches in the gym, according to witnesses.

Even in the midst of raging fires, San Diego residents are showing remarkable generosity to their neighbors who have been driven from their homes. Evacuees have been mentioning and thanking these generous donors and volunteers whenever they have had a chance while being interviewed by local newscasts, and many say that, without the generosity of their neighbors, they aren’t sure what would happen to them.