The wildfires that ranged from Tijuana to Ensenada have left 4 people dead destroyed over 200 homes with partial damage to as many as 550 homes. Just in Santa Anita, next to La Mision, 29 of the 200 homes were destroyed by the fires. Over 2000 children have been displaced temporarily, some permanently. Many farms, ranches and businesses have been damaged or destroyed leaving hundreds without any source of income, some also without a home.
In the Santa Anita, Santa Rosa, El Salto and La
Mision areas most residences that were destroyed or damaged have no insurance
to help cover the loss. Many of our neighbors have no way of
recovering without our help.
Several Civic and Religious groups are looking at projects to rebuild the
homes that were totally or partially destroyed. We applaud this noble effort
and will do everything in our power to assist them. However, we believe that
the ability to recover must start immediately and what we do well is the
acquisition and distribution of food through our Food Bank in La Mision to
families who need help. All the residents of homes that were completely or
partially destroyed as well as the people whose jobs have been lost and many of
the residents who have taken in displaced families require immediate food
assistance.
We are expanding our distribution to people in areas that we normally could not help due to our financial ability and the distance from our location. As quickly as possible we will expand access to our food bank to residents that live outside our normal service area with advice from local civic leaders. We will try to increase the amount of food that we provide to families that we know have taken in other families that no longer have a home or job. We will begin to deliver food to affected areas that are in locations where the distance makes it difficult or impossible to come to our food bank.
The La Mision Children’s Fund spends as much as 3,000.00 dollars monthly on food. The increases in food, that we know are necessary to let people recover, will substantially increase our monthly costs. If you can help, please do so. There is no amount that you could give that won’t help the significant number of children and their families recover back to a normal life.
