Please Help Ruthie Recover from Fire Devastation

On Wednesday Aug 19th 74 year old Ruth Anne Frase was forced to evacuate from her home in Last Chance Road (next to Big Basin State park Santa Cruz) due to the CZU Lightning complex fires. 

It was 1am when the fire was rapidly approaching, but her car wouldn't start. She may have lost her life if it wasn't for a neighbor named Forest Martinez who found her while she was trying to save her goats by walking them to the mill site clearing. He quickly took her back to her car and jumped started it for her and told her to leave immediately! Thank you Forest for saving Ruthie's life!!

In all the chaos Ruthie was only able to find one of her dogs. She couldn't find her beloved Great Pyrenees, Bhagwan, who had been helping her herd the goats. She was forced to leave him behind along with the 6 goats, 15 cat rescues which she adored, and her one chicken Henrietta.  Her house burned down that night.

This was her awesome little tree house which she had built herself.

Ruthie lost all of her possessions, all her art and beautiful handicrafts (she is an amazing artist). She lost all of her tools, her uniquely creative fairy tale homestead, and everything else she has spent her life building.  Most tragically of all, Ruth lost her dear animals. She managed to escaped barefoot and toothless as she didn't have time to find her dentures (in a moment of tragic humor she said "thank God we have to wear masks").  Thankfully, Ruth was able to rescue her other Great Pyrenees dog Bernardo! Ruthie is now camping in a friends garden in Santa Cruz as she doesn't want to be separated from Bernardo.

I started this fundraiser to help Ruthie recover some of her losses so that she can move back onto her land and be able to resume her simple, creative, and independent way of life as soon as the authorities give the all clear. We would love to raise enough money to at least cover the basic necessities to make this possible.

If you are able to directly donate any of the items listed below, that would be wonderful.  Second hand in good working condition is fine.  Or please donate what you can. The funds raised in this campaign will go directly to replacing the following items:

 24' Yurt with floor and insulation -  Propane Fridge - On Demand propane Water Heater - 2 Water Tanks - Propane/Gas Generator - an Inverter - a couple of Solar Panels -  4 burner Gas Stove with an oven -  Bed, Chairs & Tables - Treadle Sewing Machine - Spinning Wheel - Telephone  - a basic small computer - Heater - Materials for fencing and rebuilding a goat house -

Ruthie wrote this on her FB page. I have to share it below this sweet photo of Bhagwan as it's so beautifully optimistic and sagely wise in the face of such sadness.

"Thanks to all my dear friends and family for your love and well wishes. Life is like the beautiful Tibetan sand paintings that are created and then swept away like ashes in the wind. The rain will come. The grass will grow again and the flowers bloom once more. Lotus, Bhagwan’s girlfriend carries his puppy in her belly and we will be together again."

Ruth

A Huge Thank You to everyone for your generosity!! I'm slowly working through the list to thank you all personally! Ruthie is so grateful yet quite overwhelmed by it all, so I'll continue to be her spokesperson here until she equalizes and the shock wears off.

xoxo B'anna

UPDATE

Ruthie is extremely grateful to everyone who has donated. Every bit is going to help restore her simple way of life, piece by piece.

I want to thank Mark and Rod who have offered to set Ruthie up with some solar panels, inverter,  and batteries. This means that once we have the yurt it will have lights and basic power. This is very important because Ruth's land is completely off grid.

With the $12,000 raised so far we are close to being able to buy Ruthie a yurt. If you have any leads to a gently used one please let me know.  A new 24' yurt from Pacific yurts costs $14k but that's without a deck or insulation. We have a few weeks to find one so the search is on.

Both Ruthie and her daughter, Heather Frase LaForce, will be in charge of accepting the donations. Heather is helping her mom to navigate this overwhelming process of rebuilding a homestead.

Thank You to Everyone!!

UPDATE 2

This is the first photo we've seen of what's left of Ruthie's home. The trees on the mound in the center background are where the tree house used to be.