East Bay Group Hauls Food, Cash, Supplies To Camp Fire Victims

PLEASANT HILL, CA — Ever since the deadly Camp Fire tore through Paradise in November,
an East Bay nonprofit has been running food and other supplies to Butte County to help those displaced by the disaster. Every Sunday and Monday the White Pony Express, based in Pleasant
Hill, sends two volunteers and a refrigerated delivery truck capable of carrying more than 2,000 pounds of fresh food to Butte County.

"We didn't intend to go so far from Contra Costa County, but the need was so great," said Chief Operating Officer Isa Campbell.

Many of the people they're serving are elderly or disabled, largely due to the demographics of the Paradise area before it was destroyed. Moreover, many of the people affected lack access to the transportation they'd need to visit a grocery store or other distribution point.

"We found out about this place in Brownsville where they had this motel where they took displaced people in, but they didn't have a grocery store," Campbell said.

The person running the motel had been making food runs, Campbell said, but eventually a sense of desperation began to set in for the displaced people taking shelter there.

"We identified places where people had been put, like hotels and motels and now more recently trailer parks, so we get in touch with the manager and let people know what time to meet us, and we let people come and take what they want from the truck," Campbell said.

They haven't limited their work to food distribution, however.

When visiting sites where fire survivors are concentrated, and some locations where there may be just one person or one family living at a remote site, they've also been able to identify specific needs that some people are experiencing. One example is hot plates for anyone who prefers not to cook over a gas flame after watching propane tanks explode around them.

So in keeping with their mission in the East Bay, White Pony Express has also been distributing cash donations, gift cards and gas cards as well as assorted dry goods.

For anyone interested in helping with that mission, they're collecting new blankets, pots, pans, crockpots and small heaters that can be distributed among the fire survivors.

Because many of those individuals also have an urgent need for gas, diesel or propane, they're requesting donations of gas cards and gift cards that can be used at Safeway, FoodMaxx or Winco.

Volunteer drivers and navigators are also in demand, and anyone interested in helping out with a supply run can contact White Pony Express via email at Judith@Whiteponyexpress.org to sign up.

While the needs associated with those displaced by the Camp Fire may be temporary, White Pony Express expects them to persist for quite some time.

"I think within six months that need will have dropped, but right now there's a whole bunch of people who are camping and a whole bunch of people who are food insecure," Campbell said.

Anyone looking for more information, such where and how to donate, can do so online at Whiteponyexpress.org.

By Bay City News Service

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