Monday, October 29, 2007, 4pm Pacific
Even though I have worked for over twenty years in the nonprofit sector and seen all too many disasters strike our communities, I find that my heart still stops for a moment when I learn that yet another group of our fellow citizens is struggling to cope with the devastating effects of something as terrible as the California wild fires. To have one’s home erased in an instant seems too unbearable to contemplate.
Yet I also know from those same twenty years of experience, that disaster brings out the best in the human spirit. Our collective sense of being part of a larger community than just our own neighborhood or town seems to come to the fore, and we just naturally help one another in times of difficulty. Individuals and organizations, both locally and regionally, have proven that they can be counted on to respond quickly to the needs of their fellow citizens when a disaster occurs. We have seen this happening on the ground in Southern California for the last several days. The response and recovery effort involves the collaborative work of many, and the United Ways of California are, of course, part of the team – supporting the efforts of the 11 local United Ways in the affected Southern California counties.
In coming days, the United Way of the Bay Area will use this blog to share the very human stories of how people are dealing with and recovering from this tragedy, as seen through the eyes of United Way staff and volunteers who are “on the ground” in Southern California helping those in need. I hope you will find it both informative and uplifting.
Anne Wilson
CEO, United Way of the Bay Area
