Supporting the Napa Fire Relief

Hello Australia.  My name is Chelsea Anderson and I am a California native, born and raised in the beautiful Napa Valley.   As many of you have seen or heard, Northern California has been hit with the most devestating wildfires our state has ever seen.  Currently 220,000 acres have burned, 5,700 structures have been destroyed and 40 people have died.  Truly a massive loss.  This disaster hit parcitularly close to my heart because of those 5,700 structures lost, my parents home was one of them.  As long as I live, I will never forget the phone call I received from my mother as she told me in a panicked voice that they were running out of the house with whatever they could grab.  Essentially running for their lives.  Their house was in the epicenter as winds up to 80 mph spread the fire like an out of control raging river.  They had no warning, other the message I had sent 10 minutes earlier asking them to verify that there was actually a fire in their area because I had just read something on Facebook.  That, and the smell of smoke.  The next thing you know the fire had already surrounded their neighborhood and took everything they had worked so hard for away.  My father left with no shoes, my mother in her pajamas and the only items they were able to grab were paintings off the wall that my grandmother and aunt did that had been in the family for years.  Everything.  Gone.  In matter of mintues.   And the fire continued to spread, consume and tourment our hometown, taking no prisioners, having no mercy, eating everything in its path.   

I woke up the next day to verification that my parents house was gone, along with so many others.  Baby pictures, gone.  Parents wedding pictures, gone.  School awards, gone.  Books I was saving in case I had children, gone.  There is no other feeling, than the feeling of losing any and all evidence of your past.  The fact that this happened to so many families is heartbreaking.

And here I sat, 7,000 miles away, helplessly and hopelessly, watching my life, my past, the town I love the most, turn to ash. It looked like a battle ground.  Napa Valley, place where people would once come to taste hand crafted wines, eat at world renowned restaurants,  a place to soak up beautiful sunsets overlooking the valley, now looked like what I imaging hell to be.  

Although, while something so horrific was unraveling, something even stronger than fire was occuring in Napa.  And that something was our community coming together.  You should have seen my Facebook feed.  No more political talk, no more football posts, no more food pictures or selfies,  only the outpouring of love, concern and readiness to help.  It was breathtaking.  It is overwhelming to see something as powerful as a wildfire be compeletly overtaken by the power of community, love and support.  I could feel it from 7,000 miles away, honestly.  I would have given anything to be there to witness it personally.  Us Napans are no stranger to Mother Nature and the wrath that she can unleash.  We have been through floods, earthquakes and now the worst fire in California history and we are stronger and closer for it.  I've never been more proud to be from Napa, California.  

Now I ask, as an outsider who has only been in this country for 4 months, to help me not feel so powerless, so helpless.  For the past week, all I have been able to do is use the power of social media to coordinate clothes, money, daily neccesities for my parents and offer support to other friends who either lost their home or having been working around the clock to house people, work at evacutation centers or gather supplies for those in desperate need.  I need to do more since I am not there physically.  Please help me do so by donating to the Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund.
These funds will go directly back into Napa and help those in need.  I know that money cannot bring back memories lost but it can offer a way to create new ones.  With your help, I can show my hometown that I am representing down under and Napa is always in my heart no matter where I am in the world.