To the editor: After receiving an evacuation notice and leaving my home behind, many buddies requested what I took with me on such brief discover. It’s truly stunning how little you want.
I recommend having a small “go bag” you could simply seize and throw in your automobile. Pack that bag together with your IDs, delivery certificates, passports, bank cards and money, together with travel-sized toiletries, underwear, one change of garments, coats, pajamas, flashlights and pet meals. If in case you have little ones, embody a favourite stuffed animal and a e book or pill.
I’ve additionally been requested, “What can I do? How can I assist?” My reply: Ship money.
In case you personally know somebody advised to evacuate, they’ll want it. Some folks might have it for a lodge room or takeout; those that can return dwelling might want to restock groceries. I feel meals and clothes donations are OK, however offering money is the best choice. Individuals will get precisely what they need and wish, relatively than taking objects that make them really feel like something will do.
Concerning communication, it was fantastic to obtain so many messages of concern. Nevertheless it was additionally overwhelming, particularly when folks wished updates. On this scenario, it’s a miracle for evacuees to place one foot in entrance of the opposite.
My recommendation is to designate one individual to whom you present updates. That individual can tackle the duty of reaching out to your family and friends, when you can spend most of your time wrapping your head round what simply occurred.
Sharon Griffin, Pasadena
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To the editor: I’ve a pal who misplaced her home, her neighborhood, every little thing she owned besides her automobile. To my nice reduction, she was in a position to return my calls Sunday morning. She and her teenage daughter have been ready in a protracted line of vehicles on the Santa Anita racetrack to obtain donations of clothes.
I’m moved by the poignant irony of that scene.
Thirty years in the past, my husband and I lived in San Gabriel. A neighbor of Japanese ancestry advised me that her mom, who additionally lived close by, had by no means been to the Santa Anita mall as a result of she couldn’t abdomen the location of the adjoining racetrack the place she and plenty of different Japanese Individuals have been incarcerated, in horse stalls, till they have been transported to faraway camps.
The Santa Anita racetrack has hosted the most effective and worst of human impulses. Given the renewed demand for detention camps coming from some in Washington, I hope the forces of compassion and generosity at Santa Anita at this time will prevail.
Nan Hutcheon, Danville, Calif.
