Assistance for Wildfire Evacuees-Mora, NM

Dear Friends—

Hundreds of my friends, neighbors, and family members in my beautiful, small hometown of Mora, New Mexico and the surrounding villages, have been devasted by the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fires that have consumed over 260,000 acres; only 29% contained*. Most residents in the villages stretched across the Mora Valley have been evacuated for the past few weeks. Displaced from their homes—living out of a suitcase in whatever hotel they can find available with no end in sight as to when they might be able to go home or if their homes will even be standing when it’s all over.

 

The area comprises primarily small farms, and most residents' socioeconomic status is below the poverty level. Thus, most of these folks who typically live simple, frugal, happy lives don’t have adequate resources to pay for lodging, meals, and gasoline for an undetermined amount of time. While a few shelters have been established, there are not enough.

 

My high school classmates, Melissa Cordova and Susan Vigil, are working to coordinate lodging for people stranded in Espanola, about 70 miles away. They reached out to me and asked for help of any kind. After conversing with Melissa about the circumstances and her commitment to ensuring that she would work with hotel management to keep lodging costs low and that the people who most need assistance would be helped, I agreed to establish this request and reach out to my sphere. Through Go Fund Me, I will release funds to Melissa, who will ensure that the funds are utilized as requested.

 

My goal is to help raise funds to cover the cost of lodging for at least 50 rooms (2-5 people per room) for 20 days at $70 per day (w/ tax). That equates to $70K. Any funds not used for lodging will be used to purchase $100 gift cards and issued to residents to buy groceries when they get back home.

 

I know I have friends and family that I can trust to support this cause. I ask that you pass this on to your friends and acquaintances so that we can reach the goal and help those in need and relieve them of the worry of where they’ll be sleeping/living, at least for a few days. I want to thank you, in advance, for your donation. Know that I appreciate you tremendously.

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to me. Peace, love and joy to you always!

 

Sally Martinez

* NPR News, May 13, 2022, Fire crews battling the massive New Mexico wildfire want a break from relentless winds.  https://www.npr.org/2022/05/13/1098547723/fire-crews-new-mexico-wildfire-relentless-wind
 
https://nmfireinfo.com/2022/05/14/hermits-peak-and-calf-canyon-fires-7/