It is my honor and delight to introduce one of the great teachers of the world to you all. If you live in Santa Cruz, CA and have a child under the age of 10, you may already know her. If you have a child who has gone to Pacific Elementary School in the sweet hub of Davenport, you almost certainly already know teacher Julia. Julia is one of the preschool teachers at Pacific Elementary. Julia is a single mom and and proud grandmother who works full time at Pacific School and has other side jobs caring for children. In addition to caring for others’ kids, Julia also has a young son, and an adult daughter with her own family.  

Last week, Julia’s daughter Andrea, Andrea’s husband Andrew, and their preschool aged daughter Chloe were driving north on HWY 1 to pick up their other young daughter Bella from elementary school (the same school that Julia teaches at). 

Suddenly, their car started smoking. Andrea said that as they were driving, smoke started to come in the car. They pulled off as quickly as possible. In that few seconds, flames started coming out of the engine and into the car. Andrea was driving, and as soon as she pulled over, she jumped out. Andrew climbed over to get Chloe out of her carseat. Chloe’s carseat belt wasn’t releasing quickly, and with flames coming into the car, Andrew responded quickly and was able to cut her car seatbelt and pulled her out of the car. As they were running away from the car, it began to explode into flames.   

The fire fighters arrived quickly and closed down all of HWY 1 to handle the car fire. Another woman helped by taking Chloe over to her car so she could play with her own daughter while the fire fighters put out the fire.

Julia was working at Pacific school that afternoon, and found out what happened shortly afterwards.
Their family is beyond grateful that all of them walked away from the fire with only minor physical injuries. Their car was in good condition and they don’t know what caused the fire. Insurance will not cover the loss, so Andrea and Andrew are now without a car. Additionally, they lost their carseats, and other kid and family items that were in their car. All three of the adults are now using Julia’s car. This situation causes a huge challenge for all of them getting to and from their jobs, and taking the kids to school. 

As a community, as parents, as hard-working people ourselves, and as friends, we want to help Julia, Andrea, Andrew, Bella, and Chloe rebuild the very basic things they need to get around. It may be difficult to recover from the emotional trauma of a life threatening situation like that, and it furthers the wound by having lost their mode of transportation. We know there are so many of us who adore Julia; who appreciate her teaching our children now or in the past, and who would be honored to rise up to help her sweet hard-working family in a time of genuine visible need. 

If you know Julia, please take a moment to offer any and all financial support you can. Every penny received will go directly to Julia, her daughter and husband, and her two granddaughters. The money will be used to replace the items they lost: a car, carseats, and any other side items they need for family care. 

Thank you for your generosity! Julia already told me that it brought her to tears hearing that the community around her would want to support her and stand beside her in this time. 

Please share with anyone you know who knows Julia, and with anyone who would love a great family to love on. 

We would love to raise this money as soon as possible, so the family and kids can re-stabilize and normalize as soon as possible.

I will update as I have updates!