11/12/2018 

Message from Beth:

”Dear Overlake Community,

As you may have now heard, my humble hometown of Paradise, CA is now recognized for the most destructive fire with the greatest human loss in CA history.  I wish you all could know it the way I've known it...a place of tranquil beauty, rivers, and a tightly knit community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.  It is still remarkably tight-knit, despite this tragedy, and I hope the tranquility and beauty will restore with time.

My extended family, my husband Ryan, and I, are safe along with many people we grew up with and have known for 30+ years.  Still, my heart sinks knowing that many did not survive or are still unaccounted for in this disaster.  Daily, fire and safety personnel continue to put their lives on the line to try and contain this devastating fire.  Many of them have lost their homes, but bravely fight on.  I watched a broadcast of a community meeting last night.  The sheriff and CalFire officials described how combined factors of extreme wind/weather conditions, drought, and location/terrain created the formula that generated this horrific fire storm.

Tens of thousands, including my family, have been displaced, have lost homes/businesses/personal belongings, pets etc.  However, nothing is more valuable than human life and I'm left feeling extremely fortunate that my loved ones are safe and out of harm's way. There is very little you find you need in this world when you know the people you treasure evaded such a threat. Again, my heart is breaking for those who perished and those who’ve lost or cannot locate loved ones.

Words cannot describe the support I feel coming from the Overlake.  It is hits me at my core to see so many colleagues, former students, parents and families from the past 13 years showing such support.  Service and compassion are in the fiber of the Owl community.  I know that deep conviction to offer help in any form in the wake of tragedy and I’m forever grateful for the amazing outpouring of love.  The future can be uncertain, but communities that work together bonded by compassion, curiosity, responsibility and action can rebuild just about anything they put their hearts and minds toward.  The school I'm working with now shares in those same values.

I will meet with staff of Achieve Charter Schools, along with partners and county/state education officials tomorrow to nurture healing and to find out what may be next for our students and their families.  You can imagine that school becomes the next place of healing for children who’ve gone through a trauma such as this.  As I have more info. available re: any additional ways to support the school community(ies) I will let you know.  The cooperation amongst schools will be integral to us serving youth and their families.

Beyond that, relief efforts already (on day 5) are yielding an abundance of supply donations that are stretching limited human resources to sort/distribute beyond capacity of storage and staffing.  Humanitarian Relief management is something we often study in our Service Learning program at Overlake and this is another example.  While grateful for the support to meet emergent needs, Aid coordinators share that, currently, the best way for others to help relief efforts is to donate in-kind to any of the following organizations who will ensure resources are allocated efficiently to those in need.  If you wish to continue to support relief efforts here are some added resources doing amazing work in the response and recovery process.

https://www.norcalunitedway.org/camp-fire

https://www.nvcf.org/fund/camp-fire-evacuation-relief-fund/

http://www.wagsandwhiskerspetrescue.com

Thank you for the kindness and love you’ve shown to my family & I.  We are moved beyond words (despite my lengthy prose.)  Those who know me know brevity has never been my strong suit.  I could keep going on with my immense thankfulness-it still would never capture how I feel.

Hug your loved ones and tell them every day what they mean to you. 

In peace and gratitude,

Beth”

11/8/2018

As you all know, we love our Beth Highland.  

The town of Paradise, California has been hit with a deadly national disaster.  Beth is safe but doesn't know what the damage is to her home and town yet. 

We wanted to set up this gofundme page to support Beth's family in the next few days as they try to determine the needs of their family, home, and community.  

Donate what you can to her personally right now.  Once Beth has the opportunity to access the needs of her school, she will likely let us know how we can help in that regard (school supplies, funding, etc.) 

~ Arts & Experiential Education Department