Homeschool family in CA lost their home today in wildfire

[Ottakee]

A friend of mine that I met through the special needs homeschooling forums about 15 years ago just posted on FB that they got offical word that their home is a total loss and their small farm animals (chickens, goats, etc) are all gone. They are in Lower Lake, CA area.

 

Her and her husband have one son ,turning 20 with Down Syndrome. He is amazing and was working as a life guard when the evacuations came down so they could not get home for anything. They have just their clothes on their backs.

 

She said the whole county and regency services is on chaos as fire is spreading and 12+ homes have been lost already.

 

Is there any way for me to get them even a small monetary amount easily? They need shoes, underwear, clothes, food, everything. Just not sure how best to help from West Michigan. Any ideas?

[chiguirre]

You can send an e gift card to an email from Walmart or Target. Here's a link to the Walmart description:

 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Everyday-Yellow-Walmart-eGift-Card/16608387#about

[Lang Syne Boardie]

 

Is there any way for me to get them even a small monetary amount easily? They need shoes, underwear, clothes, food, everything. Just not sure how best to help from West Michigan. Any ideas?

 

I'd start with Western Union; it's everywhere. I'm so sorry and I hope they'll all be OK.

[*LC]

If you have a Chase bank account, you can send money to anyone with an email account.

[Renthead Mommy]

As long as they at least have id, you can sebd a moneygram. They send to and from numerous of places. Walmart and CVS especially. So they couls cash it and just turn around and pick up some of what they need. And their rates for sending are reasonable.

[Liz CA]

Send funds via PayPal? Do they have a mailing address, a friend's house? Can you contact them on cell phones?

I just read an article on this. The same area was devastated last year when we had such dry condition in CA. This fire is suspected to have been caused by faulty wiring on a hot tub at someone's home and spread through the brittle dry area. Dh and I just drove through Lake County last Wednesday.

[Laurel-in-CA]

This is the county just north of us, where they also had the very devastating Valley fire (3rd largest in CA history) just last year. How very difficult and sad to lose all that. As a friend says (who's been thru such a loss) it's the club you don't want to belong to.

[Ottakee]

They have had many close calls over the past few years. It is extra hard as their son has Down Syndrome and some.added anxiety issues.