CalFire Relief for the Hurwitzes
Donation protected
Magdalena and Eliot Hurwitz moved back to the Cobb Mountain area in Lake County, California in mid-June. They had once lived there for a decade in the 80's with other people who had formed a spiritual community of Adidam practitioners spread out around a remarkable meditation and retreat center, known as The Mountain Of Attention. Later they travelled and lived in other parts of the US with their young son, Lake, developing skills in leading local communities in achieving their collective goals, while also working towards their dream of returning to Lake County and establishing a fully cooperative housing and community model development with their friends.
Eliot and Magdalena had already spent a challenging decade of personal work and growth. Magdalena's two-year term as chair of an international forum on cooperation had just ended, and she was taking a pause from her many years of work in organization and community development with governments and nonprofits around the country. Eliot had just formally retired from decades of government service at the Federal, regional, and then county levels, concentrating on strategic planning for communities. So it was with satisfaction and anticipation that they decided to go on a vacation in September and visit their son, Lake, a successful concept artist, who had just moved to Seattle. They told their plans to their best friends and neighbors in Cobb, Bill and Kouraleen, and found a trusted caretaker who would come by and check on their beloved cat, Maverick, a three-legged orange tabby they had raised as a kitten and nursed through a broken leg, cancer, and an amputation.
When the Valley Fire hit the Cobb Mountain area, it was the third afternoon of the couple's holiday to visit their son in Seattle. They were celebrating Lake's current successes with him and his girlfriend, when they got a frantic call from Bill. Magdalena checked the internet and saw that the fire had started out at a little earlier in the afternoon at two acres and that it was now at 400 acres. Nevertheless, knowing there was nothing they could do until the firefighters were done, they took their family to dinner. By the time dinner was over, reports on the internet showed the fire had gobbled 25,000 acres. Another neighbor from across the street called to let them know that their home was in flames and would not survive!
It was a full three weeks before the fire was finally calmed and the flames fully out. Their home, and the homes of dozens of dear friends had been destroyed along with those of more than a thousand others in the area. Of the 50 homes in their own neighborhood (most of them decades-long friends), 45 had been totally burnt to the ground, leaving only ash and piles of twisted metal surrounded by a scarred and blackened landscape.
While fixated on the unfolding drama with their hosts, they realized that they had, over the decades, built the capacity to organize and galvanize the cooperative response of all their friends, most of whom were also associated with the spiritual fellowship of Adidam and The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary. So, urged on by their friends they swung into action. Magdalena began setting a direction for the relief efforts from afar and Eliot took on preparations for the recovery phase of handling the disaster, calling on colleagues and other contacts and setting in motion a community process to consider how rebuilding might be undertaken in a disaster of such magnitude. The two have continued these joint efforts very closely, knowing that the results of their work in these early stages would affect their community's future. This work continues, growing rapidly in intensity and scope.
They knew they still had some boxes in storage, but it was mostly Christmas ornaments, an old but well-made spare twin bed, Eliot's mother's artwork, and some books. Otherwise, all they had left were a week's worth of clothes and toiletries that they had packed to take on their vacation. Lost in the fire were the first formal self-portraits that Lake had drawn; Eliot's grandfather's chair and bookcases from his childhood home; and a table of inlaid tropical woods that Magdalena's father had brought from the Philippines for his young children.
Now, with the entire region where they lived scorched to the ground, the relief and recovery work Eliot and Magdalena are doing has re-kindled their desires and hopes for establishing a local, intimately scaled "village" of some kind, perhaps even a fully cooperative housing and community model development. They have begun to organize the hundreds of people in their community left homeless or damaged by the fire to rebuild from the ashes a truly cooperative new circumstance.
Under the best of circumstances, cooperative developments take considerable time and money. And it will take at least two or more years to build in an area where thousands of other survivors are also trying to rebuild their own homes and lives. In the meantime, winter is coming and they will need strong, temporary housing. As part of this effort, Eliot and Magdalena hope to be able to purchase a comfortable yurt where they can live for the next several years as the redevelopment process unfolds. They will be happy to share with everyone their progress as the yurt arrives, is established and becomes a new temporary home. $25,000 would cover these short-term expenses.
I have known Magdalena and Eliot for more than twenty five years as fellow members of our spiritual community. Their selfless dedication to creatively assisting others even less fortunate than themselves in the aftermath of these horrible fires is inspiring and telling of the kind of people they are. I live and teach at a private college in Richmond, Virginia.
Eliot and Magdalena had already spent a challenging decade of personal work and growth. Magdalena's two-year term as chair of an international forum on cooperation had just ended, and she was taking a pause from her many years of work in organization and community development with governments and nonprofits around the country. Eliot had just formally retired from decades of government service at the Federal, regional, and then county levels, concentrating on strategic planning for communities. So it was with satisfaction and anticipation that they decided to go on a vacation in September and visit their son, Lake, a successful concept artist, who had just moved to Seattle. They told their plans to their best friends and neighbors in Cobb, Bill and Kouraleen, and found a trusted caretaker who would come by and check on their beloved cat, Maverick, a three-legged orange tabby they had raised as a kitten and nursed through a broken leg, cancer, and an amputation.
When the Valley Fire hit the Cobb Mountain area, it was the third afternoon of the couple's holiday to visit their son in Seattle. They were celebrating Lake's current successes with him and his girlfriend, when they got a frantic call from Bill. Magdalena checked the internet and saw that the fire had started out at a little earlier in the afternoon at two acres and that it was now at 400 acres. Nevertheless, knowing there was nothing they could do until the firefighters were done, they took their family to dinner. By the time dinner was over, reports on the internet showed the fire had gobbled 25,000 acres. Another neighbor from across the street called to let them know that their home was in flames and would not survive!
It was a full three weeks before the fire was finally calmed and the flames fully out. Their home, and the homes of dozens of dear friends had been destroyed along with those of more than a thousand others in the area. Of the 50 homes in their own neighborhood (most of them decades-long friends), 45 had been totally burnt to the ground, leaving only ash and piles of twisted metal surrounded by a scarred and blackened landscape.
While fixated on the unfolding drama with their hosts, they realized that they had, over the decades, built the capacity to organize and galvanize the cooperative response of all their friends, most of whom were also associated with the spiritual fellowship of Adidam and The Mountain Of Attention Sanctuary. So, urged on by their friends they swung into action. Magdalena began setting a direction for the relief efforts from afar and Eliot took on preparations for the recovery phase of handling the disaster, calling on colleagues and other contacts and setting in motion a community process to consider how rebuilding might be undertaken in a disaster of such magnitude. The two have continued these joint efforts very closely, knowing that the results of their work in these early stages would affect their community's future. This work continues, growing rapidly in intensity and scope.
They knew they still had some boxes in storage, but it was mostly Christmas ornaments, an old but well-made spare twin bed, Eliot's mother's artwork, and some books. Otherwise, all they had left were a week's worth of clothes and toiletries that they had packed to take on their vacation. Lost in the fire were the first formal self-portraits that Lake had drawn; Eliot's grandfather's chair and bookcases from his childhood home; and a table of inlaid tropical woods that Magdalena's father had brought from the Philippines for his young children.
Now, with the entire region where they lived scorched to the ground, the relief and recovery work Eliot and Magdalena are doing has re-kindled their desires and hopes for establishing a local, intimately scaled "village" of some kind, perhaps even a fully cooperative housing and community model development. They have begun to organize the hundreds of people in their community left homeless or damaged by the fire to rebuild from the ashes a truly cooperative new circumstance.
Under the best of circumstances, cooperative developments take considerable time and money. And it will take at least two or more years to build in an area where thousands of other survivors are also trying to rebuild their own homes and lives. In the meantime, winter is coming and they will need strong, temporary housing. As part of this effort, Eliot and Magdalena hope to be able to purchase a comfortable yurt where they can live for the next several years as the redevelopment process unfolds. They will be happy to share with everyone their progress as the yurt arrives, is established and becomes a new temporary home. $25,000 would cover these short-term expenses.
I have known Magdalena and Eliot for more than twenty five years as fellow members of our spiritual community. Their selfless dedication to creatively assisting others even less fortunate than themselves in the aftermath of these horrible fires is inspiring and telling of the kind of people they are. I live and teach at a private college in Richmond, Virginia.
Organizer and beneficiary
Joe Troncale
Organizer
Midlothian, VA
Eliot Hurwitz
Beneficiary