Hilltop Rescue & Relief (CA Wildfires)

UPDATE - JANUARY 1, 2008
http://www.hilltoprescue.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

After serving almost two months doing different types of jobs, interacting with local volunteers as well as victims of the wildfires and seeing God at work in Southern California, we have shut down our operation there. Local government restrictions have made it extremely difficult for volunteer organizations like ours to work. Hilltop Rescue volunteers were able to help 21 families by digging up the ashes of their homes and barns, cutting up fallen trees, cutting up metal beams and separating debris for recycling, and rebuilding sheds and fences. We are so grateful to the Ramona Church of Christ for housing us in their church building. In addition to volunteers coming from across the country, we had people come from local congregations to serve. One of the highlights of our work was when a volunteer crew spent two wet, cold, muddy days rebuilding a goat barn and replacing fencing to help a family on the Rincon Reservation who had lost everything in the fires. When the work was finished, all the crew members were given pins identifying them as honorary members of the Rincon Band of the Luiseno Indian Tribe. Thank you so much to all who came to serve and to the churches, businesses and individuals who contributed time, money and equipment to this effort. As you all have proven, God works through His people.

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OUR WORK IN CALIFORNIA - Wednesday, November 28, 2007
To date we have worked on 15 homes in San Diego County. This
work has included everything from shoveling ashes and debris
into wheelbarrows and cutting steel beams into pieces to
cutting up fallen trees. Our volunteers have helped prepare
a lot for the arrival of a FEMA trailer, helped lay wattle
and sandbags for erosion control and have sifted ashes hoping
to find something to salvage for homeowners. We have made it
known in the community that we are willing hands for manual
labor.

NEW INFORMATION POSTED!! - Friday, November 16, 2007
We apologize for recent trouble with the website. New information
for volunteers on the wildfire relief effort has been posted.
Check the "Read This" link on the right side of this page.
This information will be updated frequently as things change.

RAMONA VOLUNTEER BASE CAMP IS READY!! - Tuesday, November 06,
2007
Our volunteer base camp is ready. We are located at the Ramona
church of Christ building, 530 11th Street, Ramona, CA 92065.
Showers are available at a nearby facility. Please remember
that we are asking for a donation of $10 per day per volunteer
to help with operating costs, but we don't want this to stop
anyone from coming to help. If this is a problem, please talk
to Corky. If you or your group has specific dates you would
like to come to Ramona, sign up on the website as soon as
possible in order to get the dates you want. Since our camp
capacity is now 50 volunteers, it will fill up quickly. Come
on down!!

WE ARE ACCEPTING VOLUNTEERS NOV. 3 - JAN. 12 - Tuesday, October
30, 2007
We are getting our volunteer base camp put together this week
and will start accepting volunteers as of November 3. Right
now we plan to operate until January 12, but we are looking to
see where God leads us. We will have to ask for $10 per day
donation per volunteer to help offset operating expenses.
As always, if this is a problem please talk to Corky and we
will work it out. The people of Ramona and the surrounding
area need help, and we are looking for willing hands.

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SPOKE TO CORKY/VOL. COORD.:

This reliable and experienced disaster relief organization has
been an active and effective force in LA, AL for hurricane relief
& OH for flood relief. The Ramona, CA operation is not temporary.
They are setting up an office and are receiving a steady stream
of requests for assistance from homeowners without insurance (or
under-insured), as well as insured homeowners.

They have a steady stream of great volunteers (many strong, hard
working university students coming in right now) and expect the
stream to continue through the holidays. They can handle excess
volunteers as other organizations are coming to them to ask for
volunteer help.

2 - 40 ft. trailers coming in 11/8/07 - One will store tools &
equipment, the other will be bunkhouses to increase volunteer
capacity (which is currently 50 inside the church).

Currently, they've coordinated showers, volunteer feeding access
with Christ in Action for volunteers down the road from their
volunteer camp base and these services will be available through
the end of 12/07.

They are moving more trailers from VA at this time, and securing 2
Passenger Van loans to move volunteers to work sites.

They've cleaned 5 houses so far in the Ramona area, and will
be feeding volunteers to Fallbrook as a result of a call for
assistance in this area.

They are currently getting ready to assist 30 families in a
planned community that had no insurance, and many homeowners
are starting to settle their insurance claims and have the go
ahead to clear debris.

They are also removing debris from a Community Rec. Ctr. site
that most org's won't touch because it's a commercial building.
Hilltop doesn't discriminate based on zoning and is helping all
members of affected communities.

Their biggest need currently is:

Cutting Torch (many houses are pre-fab homes and require this
tool to complete tear down)

Corky is interested in securing any Aid Matrix computer donations
and has volunteers willing and able to do pickups. They currently
have one PC for volunteers and one for staff, but need one more
to serve the community and use as a back up for office admin.

LTel

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UPDATE - NOVEMBER 15, 2007

HILLTOP RESCUE & RELIEF IS AT WORK IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

We have begun working with fire victims here in Ramona,
California. The past two days our volunteers have been cleaning
up debris at a home that was totally destroyed by fire. It is
different from our work in the Gulf Coast. There are no wet,
stinking belongings to carry out, just wheelbarrow after
wheelbarrow of ashes. It's not a question of what can be salvaged-
-out of the entire house, the only things we have found intact
are a ceramic chicken and a wallet with a dollar bill in it.
Everything else is gone. The home sat on steel beams over a
crawl space, so we cut the steel beams into pieces and carried
them to the separate pile of metal parts. We watch out for
glowing embers (yes, we have found some) and soak them in water.
Yesterday, one of our volunteers went from house to house on
this street--the home we are working on was the only one in
it's cul-de-sac to burn--ringing doorbells looking for someone
who was home who would give us permission to get some water
from their hose. We needed a trash can with water in it to
soak smoldering insulation in. At the third house we tried,
Abby answered the door and very kindly said to use the hose as
much as we liked. Then she asked if we could use another pair
of hands. She came down and worked with us part of the day
yesterday and all day today. Her home survived intact, but
she has felt deeply the losses in her neighborhood. Abby is
so excited to be able to help in some way and says she feels
spiritually renewed. We can't promise this type of encounter
with every job. We have put the word out in Ramona that we
are here to help in any way we can. That may mean mending
fences at a buffalo ranch, shoveling horse manure for a farm
owner so she can use her time to meet with insurance adjusters,
spreading hay for erosion control, or knocking down walls.
Requests for help are slowly coming in, but we trust that God
will send us the people He wants us to help. Due to the
generosity of the Ramona Church of Christ, we have set up a
volunteer base camp in their church building in order to reach
out to the surrounding community. At the present time our
maximum capacity will be 50 volunteers.

If your home or property has been damaged by the fires, please
let us know if we can help you. Call 760-300-3728 and someone
will contact you or go to:

http://www.hilltoprescue.org/needs/

If you want to volunteer for this recovery effort and are a
new volunteer, please go to:

http://www.hilltoprescue.org/Default.aspx?tabid=68 to sign
up and you will be contacted. If you are a returning
volunteer, please call Corky directly at 310-294-1609.
Sign up now in order to get the dates you want.

Thank you so much to the groups and individuals who have
donated and loaned us equipment. We know why you do this
and may God bless you for it. However, as time passes we
find our operating funds running dangerously low. If you would
like to help keep Hilltop Rescue running, please go to:

http://www.hilltoprescue.org/Default.aspx?tabid=69

If your home has been damaged by the fires, please let us know
if we can help you. As we organize our response effort, someone
will contact you. Go to the online help registry at:

http://www.hilltoprescue.org/needs/

OR CALL CORKY AT: (760) 300-3728

Hilltop Rescue & Relief
717 East Grand
El Segundo, CA 90245

MAIN NUMBER: 310-294-1603
VOLUNTEER CONTACT (Corky): 310-294-1609
FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT SCHEDULING: Corky@hilltoprescue.org