Remembering the Camp Fire

The following is a short post from our Volunteer Coordinator, Travis Cox

Monday marked three years since the Camp Fire destroyed Paradise, Concow and Magalia. I wasn’t sure what I would see in the community this week. Anniversaries can be triggering for anyone, and for a date like this, there just aren’t many good memories to be had. But. That’s not what I’ve seen through the weekend of commemorations. What I have seen is a community that has finally seen progress on rebuilding. A community that has finally seen that there is a way forward.

I’m the volunteer coordinator for HCRN and this week I wanted to bring in a team from my home region of Northern Indiana. The team arrived, dropped their luggage and groceries at our dormitory and we made a bee line for the Paradise Alliance Church. PAC has been one of our strongest partners through all of the struggles of recovery and rebuilding, and on the evening of November 7, they were having a community meal with an 80s cover band.

We arrived for dinner, and there were kids playing with chalk in the front drive, there were parents playing cornhole, and a bouncy house in the sanctuary lobby. The smell of a BBQ grill smoking and preparing our meals filled the whole entrance. What we saw was joy, it was hope, it was the recovery our team has worked so hard to see enacted here in Paradise.

It’s been a tough few years for us to be able to bring volunteers to serve in this community, and I’m thankful every day for those who believe in our mission to Rebuild Homes and Restore Lives. I’m so proud of what our volunteers have been able to accomplish since spring of this year, and I know that there is so much more we can do together to see Paradise and all of Butte County continue to recover.

Thank you again to every volunteer who has come through our doors with an open heart and a desire to serve. Your presence is powerful, and these communities are better for you having been here.

If you’d like to volunteer in Northern California, email [email protected]. If you’d like to donate to our mission of recovery and rebuilding, visit this link.