More than 20,000 residents had been forced to evacuate their homes due to the ongoing wildfires
Published in the Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
A U-Haul truck filled with thousands of items for residents of Butte County hit by the wildfires left Morgan Hill’s Cecelia Closet the afternoon of Thursday Sept. 4.
For several days, the Morgan Hill nonprofit The Edward Boss Prado Foundation accepted donations of tents, blankets, flashlights, sleeping bags, cat and dog food, hygiene items, and other items to give aid to Northern California residents who have been impacted by wildfires that have forced thousands to evacuate their homes. People from as far away as San Jose dropped off the items at Cecelia’s Closet and Food Pantry collection site, which is run by the Prado Foundation.
The U-Haul was donated by Burkes Upholstery and U-Haul, a Morgan Hill businesses, and the Morgan Hill Kiwanis Club and Girl Scouts Troop 62224 provided money for fuel for the trip, said Cecelia Ponzini, co-founder of the foundation.
When several people asked her to help the residents displaced from their homes, Ponzini at first decided not to do it because she felt overwhelmed with other projects, she said.
“And then one morning I woke up with a heavy heart and I said I’m going to do it,” she said.
This month in Lake, Calaveras and Amador counties more than 20,000 residents had been forced to evacuate their homes due to the ongoing wildfires.
The Valley and Butte fires have combined to claim at least five lives and consume some 1,400 homes. The fire is considered by officials to be the worst in the state in terms of number of homes destroyed.
