“Paradise Lost” The #CampFire devastated Paradise, California on November, 8, 2018, and has directly affected our families. The Polkinghorne/Ames/Hidalgo families have lost their homes, the entire contents, and two cars. The homes are gone, burned to the ground. The cars are also totaled.

With less than 30 minutes to pack before a 4-hour evacuation drive from Paradise to Chico that normally took 25 minutes, very little was saved. We thought we’d be back soon, to homes still standing.

Donate NOW to our GoFundMe account. Feel free to specify a family member; otherwise, we will divide donations equally.

Mark & Jolaine (Polkinghorne) Hidalgo lost their home, their storage shed, Mark’s Mercedes, and Jolaine’s Toyota pickup and camper shell.

Aunt Wanda Ames lost her home, the contents and her storage shed.

Steve Polkinghorne , a Vietnam Veteran, and his daughter, Jennifer Polkinghorne lost their home and art gallery. 

Myrtle, Charlie and Max, Jolaine and Jennifer’s dogs, are safe with us! You could donate for dog food, pet beds, medication and supplies.

Donate to help with immediate expenses. Urgent need for clothes, makeup, and travel expenses to visit family staying in other cities and Oregon and Nevada and temporary rental costs, come first. Replacing lost furniture, jewelry, hundreds of paintings in the art gallery and tools that will not be fully reimbursed by standard insurance coverage is months away. A lifetime of irreplaceable memories; the photographs, family paintings done by Jack, Marjorie and Steve Polkinghorne and LaVerne Olding, jewelry handed down from generations past, and friends who’ve passed on – Priceless, gone forever.

Yes, we’re partially covered by homeowners and automobile insurance, and we’ve begun those processes, but even that will take quite a while.

To help with immediate costs and things not covered by insurance, we’ve created a family #GoFundMe account. You can help by making a donation TODAY, and sharing it with your network. We greatly appreciate you, our friends and families. We know that money can be tight, so please know that even $5 - $20 will help us get closer to our family goal! No donation is too small! Let us know if you have any questions and we’ll be happy to answer them.

God bless you and yours.