Almeda Fires Latinx Community Relief Fund

The fires in the communities of Talent, Phoenix and Medford have disproportionately impacted Latinx families who have worked so hard and now lost everything. 

There are over 600 families affected, many who are migrant families working in the local vineyards, forests and farms. Many were living in the same mobile home communities so entire extended families are impacted weakening their support systems. This, combined with the fact that the fires wiped out nearly all affordable housing, has created a refugee-like situation, where families who have lost everything have little options for relocation.



Community based relief: 
Families did not have insurance on their homes because it is hard to insure mobiles in a high risk region like Oregon. Many were already struggling  with greatly reduced income due to COVID but at least they had a home and each other. Now all they have is ashes. Due to mixed status many will not be able to obtain the limited government assistance available. 

I'm a Latinx counselor/social worker with over 25 years experience, but most importantly, I am my immigrant mother's daughter who wants to help in a community way in the spirit of our ancestors.  
For more on me, please see this video: https://vimeo.com/463260665/82cfebcd12?fbclid=IwAR3T1fZBmR5hOHtLr4JrhxSmkM-dkJVzWemmc7Eov5s76fruWCEkg3wdbAM

I am meeting with families and holding space for grief, while also distributing funds raised to provide direct cash relief to meet basic needs. This offers hope and tangible relief in a way that supports dignity and autonomy for all affected.  

ALL donations go directly to affected families to help fill gaps in available resources. All funds are distributed directly to individuals and families when I meet with them at donation centers, their hotels, RV's or other transitional space they are in. 

Families are using the funds for basic needs, food, gas, bills, medical expenses, specific family needs, rent deposits, down payments for trailers, RV space rent and to subsidize higher rents.  (The few rentals available are double what families were paying before)

Thank you so much for being part of the reciprocity and humanity of community!
Muchísimas Gracias!!


Here are some stories I have shared on social media to describe the immediate and ongoing needs: 

===CRYING THROUGH BURNING LUNGS===
"It’s hard to cry when your lungs are burning and compromised from exposure to off the charts hazardous air quality. My chest heaves raggedly and its hard to breathe but I honestly cannot stop crying. I can’t sleep bc I’m grieving for my community, the displaced who have always been marginalized.

With every undocumented person/family I help there are more and more coming my way. I’m crying for all of them bc everyone deserves and NEEDS so much more. There is literally no government support. There are only a few of us individuals and one church getting cash in the hands of a few while the need is an ocean. I’m crying for the man (of many) who has cried with me when I gave him cash bc he learned the hotel whose company he works for was going to charge him over $700 for his stay he thought they offered him for free. I cry for the teen who has literally no concern for herself but deep pain and tears at seeing her parents struggle and lose everything and feel so helpless to help them. I cry even though right now I can barely breathe, for the families who are sleeping in trailers or camping in the TOXIC smoke just so they can stay together and/or close to work, so the 8yo special needs child who clings to his overwhelmed yet so strong mama, won’t have to separate from his grandparents, cousins, siblings. She holds him in her arms while she is holding too much, more than anyone should bear, standing in a parking lot or field after losing everything.

I can’t stop crying and I can’t sleep because of the hundreds who are searching for items in food banks or still having to work in fields, WITHOUT masks in air that is damaging MY lungs and I’m wearing a mask. (And I only keep mine bc I want to keep helping) They have experienced harrowing danger as they got their children out of trailers in the nick of time, drove through fire and they are STILL in danger trying to put their hard earned life back together in this grey haze with apocalyptic red sun, while carrying the shock and trauma of it all. The long term health effects are so scary but no one has time (nor masks) to care. I’m the mom who protects her children at all costs and I let my teen volunteer while worrying about her all day. There is no way we cannot help right now. I’m crying bc so many cannot cry, won’t cry until they can rest. Right now there is no rest.

PLEASE SHARE and help me keep getting money into the hands of those who need it most. Cash is needed bc they cannot get to donation centers if they don’t have gas, centers don’t have specific things, they cannot access much of the govt resources (whenever that comes) but above all, its just human and direct aid that supports autonomy and dignity. "


==DEVASTATION AND GRIEF==

"There are no words that can better describe the devastation and grief my Latinx community is experiencing than this video (viewable on my FB page). Families who have worked so hard through barriers to own their own mobile homes, to be together in community. When your entire extended family loses multiple homes there is no refuge. This strong mama is willing to share her private and vulnerable moments with you to help show the need here, in hopes that “others can be helped through my pain.”
Please remember as you watch, that while carrying such heavy burdens of grief, despair and displacement, many are walking through toxic ash, worn down from toxic air but are still returning to work to pick fruit with no masks provided, to clean biohazards in hospitals, to do whatever labor work they can get. In the midst of their tragedy, they are still tending and feeding America. NO, THIS IS NOT JUST. Let’s not allow this to be. They deserve to be carried, to rest and be helped immediately. "

"All day as I am meeting with parents, we talk about grief. I listen, drop in my heart and give space for tears that need to flow. They say, “it’s been a week, but I can’t stop crying.” Of course not, I assure them, it will be years. I try to help them to remember that the only answer to grief is to cry, to desahogarse, a word I love which means ‘undrown yourself.’ I remind them that this is our divine design. That all babies cry when they’re upset, that we are born knowing what to do. I encourage them to rest and trust their body to guide them. I share how grief is a wave that crests and subsides if we allow it. Many mamas say they don’t want to cry in front of the children because they don’t wanna upset them and they worry if they cry that everyone will be just be crying, collapse in grief. And I tell them that is exactly the thing to do; to have a lot of snuggle moments and puppy piles letting the tears flow. To cry and cry and cry. Surprisingly I see even the culturally macho man nodding in agreement, knowing that there’s no escape from this grief. They really couldn’t push it down if they tried. It’s everywhere.
Everything I’m doing in this effort, and this intentional way that I’m doing it, is to support our remembering of what it means to be human connected. Like our ancestors, beautifully we know how to tend to ourselves and tend to each other, especially when basic needs are met. I’m so grateful to all of you for helping me tend to them with cash support that allows families a moment of relief and space for the grief so we can begin these conversations. I’m letting every family know that if they’d like to we will continue to have time together. I’ve been told my superpower is to make people cry (In a good way). I’ve developed this ‘superpower’ through many years of curling up in a ball, holding my inner niña and letting her grieve all the years of feeling invisible, forgotten while just wanting to belong. (And supporting such healing for over 20 years) As one human to another, I’m giving everyone my phone number, as a friend, as someone who will help in the long course. I love social workers and nonprofits and I’ve helped in this role. But as a foster child, I distinctly remember the distance, the too quick exchanges, the feeling of being just a number. The trafficked youth I’ve worked with echo this deeply. (It is not social worker’s fault, it is being overworked and mired in paperwork and overwhelming need) I’m so grateful for all the donations that are allowing me to bring in support simply as a human, a friend. I will hold space as long as it takes. We are in this for the long haul and we are in it together."

===FAMILIAS===

"Sometimes fathers will come to meet me on their own. Las mamas stay in the car with the children because it's easier to keep them there then have little ones running around in different directions. In these moments, fathers have a brief moment to let down. They say nearly the same thing with tears in their eyes: "I've worked so hard all these years. Whatever I needed to do to support my family I do. We always find a way. NEVER, NEVER in my life did I think I would have to ask for help this way. I hate it but I know I have to do it because it's the right thing for my family" They are pushing past pride, past helplessness, past macho, to be vulnerable and receive. "I have lost everything, EVERYTHING, so I have no choice"

Have you ever noticed how few Latin men we see on the side of the roads asking for help? I always noticed this during my years as a social worker in South LA. Generally, the only Latin men sitting with a sign were veterans (understandably). Every other man was selling oranges, flowers, paletas, raspados, y elotes (popsicles, icees, and corn). These strong men are industrious and want to provide for their families. Even now, in the midst of this heartbreaking wreckage, they leave the mamas with multiple children in hotel rooms (which breaks my heart for the mamas who are still in shock trying to manage so many young ones) to go get any work that is available. Some who worked on their own as landscapers but don't have tools are working with a friend who does. They are as always, finding a way. But it's not enough so they come to me and painfully swallow their pride to receive. They do what they have to do for their family. I do my best to support their dignity by giving them the cash immediately, so they don't feel they have to tell their story as a form of begging. They can tell it just to be heard with compassion and they seem to welcome this moment to release this frustration and heartache.
And of course, true to the culture, if they can, they offer reciprocity. They offer to help me deliver things with their truck, to come and work on my garden, to help me in any way. When I can, and when things settle, I will take them up on it, because this is not and never pity or charity. This is community, capacity and humanity that we all need to remember within us. These are some of the strongest most giving men you will ever meet.

This is who you are helping. Please continue to help me support the most impacted families with direct cash relief that offers autonomy and respect. The word is spreading so the number of those coming to me is growing. The need is so great, but together I believe it is possible for the collective to help me help all our migrant families."

===CHILDREN===
"The children are suffering. Overwhelmed mothers tell me how they cling to them, have nightmares, are hyper/irritable and ask “is this home going to burn? Is this home okay?” Many families did not receive warning until the last minute, did not have cars and had to scramble in with neighbors, many drove through flames on both sides, and many had to leave beloved pets. And after all this, their entire community is reduced to ashes with virtually no homes to resettle into. Now, to survive, parents have little time to soothe them. They must leave them with older siblings to go get whatever work or resources they can, to rebuild their lives. Parents and children are anxious, grieving and traumatized because the bottom has fallen out from under them, and they are still dangling.
With my play therapy background I know children are so resilient. Their inner healing impulse guides them in knowing how and when to release and integrate whatever trauma they face. I’ve seen this magic even in the most harrowing cases. I have hope for the children but I know there will not be true healing until the basic need of a home, un hogar, is met. The anxiety and fear cannot be completely soothed when they remain in limbo. This is why I keep seeking support to meet basic needs.
Yesterday, I took two little ones, who are staying with us, into our garden. They fed the chickens kale very cautiously. They’ve been managing fears of all of our animals, having good cries and moving through it. Slowly they got closer and were soon uprooting plants to give to the chickens! Resiliency. Regeneration.
My beloved corn was thrashed by the winds, but she still held her many gifts. We harvested and shucked these to reveal her tiny gems. I wondered whether it’s safe to eat them with all the toxic ash that soaked the air. Water and ash creating lye. I moved here to be close to the land, to tend my garden, and now the water, the soil, has been polluted beyond comprehension. But there is still something about holding these seeds in my hand.
The green corn I planted precisely to grow seeds is highly imperfect but it has produced more seeds to preserve the species. I think about our ancestors and their tenacity. How many times did they look at seeds in their hands with doubt and yet the inherent hope that the potential for new life and new beginnings brings? How many journeys did they walk with precious seeds inspiring their footsteps? The children are these seeds. They are every familias reason to move forward. They love their babies dearly and are doing whatever it takes. Even in the midst of shambles and despair, I see corn mama smiling upon her people, guiding us with her hard won wisdom."

==COMMUNITY/RECIPROCITY, CLIMATE CHANGE, HEALING==
"Throughout this process I’ve had the honor of collaborating with a team of soulful, thoughtful, resourceful and intentional folk bringing a wrap around approach to resettlement for families: finding housing, tending the nest, welcoming with groceries, providing hot meals from local restaurants.
 So much love and care.
Another magical thing that’s happened is that a local Mexican restaurant, El Tapatio, has become a hub where many in the Latinx community feel most comfortable to seek resources. Volunteers in my affluent town realized this was the way to support the Latinx community and have been streaming in every day to help, bring resources, donations, meals. It has blossomed like only something by the community, for the community, can. And it’s been a healing ground where two socioeconomically and racially separated communities are practicing reciprocity and being in proximity with each other. Many, that I meet with there, have shared with me how healing it has been to have the affluent community that they felt separate from, helping in such a concerted way. It truly means so much.
AND being in relationship with my community is also a profound gift to the giver. The other day as I visited a family to orient them to the three meals generously provided by roguefoodunites.org, I was stopped in my tracks. After literally driving around in circles in this town so new to me, I found the family waiting for me on a street corner to make it easier. The youngest daughter, a bright faced 6 year old came gleefully up to meet me and eagerly wanted to direct my lost soul to the home they are staying in. She began skipping down the street past historic houses in the tree lined neighborhood. I cried (again). All I could think was “Why did it take a natural disaster, an apocalypse, for me to see a joyous little brown girl skipping down this street?” It hit me so hard that not once had I seen this here. HER presence in this neighborhood is the gift. A moment later, her father with shining eyes (literally) noticed another evacuated Latinx family up the street and called to them with a fatherly tone, “Come here, they are giving help.” HIS presence, his solid, interconnected communal way, is a gift.
When I sit with the family who is staying with us, it is a gift for me to see how they have navigated this country’s materialism/capitalism/colonization and remained so connected to corazón, familia y comunidad with so much love and respect. I grieve because holding these values for my family in suburbia, has made me counterculture, and it is a gift for my children to see others steeped in it. Every interaction with a heart and connection-based culture is a gift for those steeped in modern lies and ways of separation and disconnection.
People are spinning around with understandable worry. What are we going to do about climate change?? My community is a gift that has modeled for years what it looks like to live simply/sustainably, to be adaptable, prioritize relationships that foster collective survival, live a culture of healing connection, practice deep celebration of life and TEND THE LAND. To do what needs to be done. Even in this time of heartbreak and destruction they are living this, sharing and reaching out to ensure everyone’s needs are met, connecting me to those most in need. They do not need saviors but they welcome the mutuality. The interdependence and relationships being developed right now between our communities ARE the path, our way forward in uncertain times."