Community groups raise funds for Calif. fire victims

The Chinese-American community in Northern California has raised more than $76,000 to help victims of the devastating Camp Fire.

"We expect more donations to flood in next week," said Huang Jie, one of the main organizers who chose to stage the event at the First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto. "It only took us eight days to allocate performances, spread messages and do fact-checks on victims and determine charity channels."

About 80 grassroots groups of Chinese Americans mobilized for a fundraising event on Saturday.

He Konghua, a community leader who chairs the Beijing Association in California, endorsed one check and dropped it into a donation box at the event entrance on Saturday.

"We live here and we love America. We feel their (victims') pain, and we are in the same boat," she said. "I believe kindness and love, regardless of cultural and ideological differences will help clean the aftermath and remedy losses."

Since its outbreak on Nov 8, the most devastating wildfire in California history has killed 85 people and destroyed more than 14,000 properties, according to Cal Fire. The town of Paradise was basically burned to the ground.

According to Dong Xudong, who went to Paradise after the Camp Fire forced its 27,000 residents to flee, the living conditions of the fire's survivors "are formidable and heart-wrenching".

Evacuees were sleeping in tents and in the hatchbacks of their cars and lack daily necessities.

"The hygiene concern mounts, too," said the amateur photographer, who captured profiles of several disconsolate senior citizens at the parking lot of a shopping mall in Chico, California. "It looks like a de facto refugee camp.

"Friends come to me, checking whether we can do something together," said Dong. "Why not put together a fundraiser within our community and publicize the initiative through WeChat, a powerful social media platform?"

On Nov 17, a fundraising taskforce was established, with each cell given a specific function – raising social awareness, information sharing, logistics and outreach.

Huang, who established the California-based non-profit We Are Together foundation three years ago and has conducted several charity events to raise funds and social awareness for autism and disabled groups, applied her expertise in finalizing the fundraiser.

"My heart just resonates with the less privileged; I guess it's now habitual," Huang said.

Jerry Johnson, concert coordinator of the church that became the fundraiser's venue, said the church has hosted many charity concerts over the years, but "this fundraising concert by the Chinese community is the first known one held this year", for the Camp Fire victims.

"I really appreciate your efforts to do whatever you can for many people who have lost everything and members of family," she said.

Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com