Viejas Wildfire & Emergency Alerts Service Needs Your Vote for Funding

To the editor:

We need your readers’ help to obtain funding for our Viejas Wildfire & Emergency Alerts, a free public service.  Ideal4aCause has chosen Viejas Alerts as one of four charitable causes it’s supporting.  We will receive a donation for every vote cast for Viejas Alerts through Sept. 30 at www.ideal4acause.com/vote.php.  

If we reach 1,650 votes, we receive $2,500.
 
Viejas Alerts sends alerts free via email whenever a wildfire or other emergency occurs, such as freeway closures, flash floods, police/SWAT actions, school lockdowns and severe weather alerts.  We also offer free alerts via Twitter and Facebook.
 
I am a La Mesa native and longtime area resident.  I wrote a grant to start our free emergency alert service after East County residents emailed me at midnight during the 2007 Harris wildfire.  Their phone lines had burned down and they couldn’t find information anywhere about a fire surrounding their town. 

We realized people in East County needed a way to get fast, accurate information during emergencies, so with help from Viejas we started our alert service that has drawn praise from fire chiefs and heads of fire safe councils countywide.
 
We need funds to buy a mobile scanner, generator and to pay for monitoring during the wee hours of the night especially in red flag alerts or ongoing wildfires.  Our hard-working volunteers need help!  Will you please ask your readers to take just a moment to vote for us at www.ideal4acause.com/vote.php?
 
Ideal4aCause is a new website offering discounts on San Diego restaurants and other businesses. They donate 10-20% of their profits to help nonprofits like ours.
 
Viejas Wildfire & Emergency Alerts are powered by East County Magazine, a publication of the nonprofit Heartland Coalition.  People can sign up for free wildfire and emergency alerts at www.EastCountyMagazine.org Please help us keep people in La Mesa safe and informed!

Miriam Raftery
Mount Helix