Camp Fire Survivor Receives Housing & Hope

"If it wasn't for Listos, we would've lost hundreds of lives that day," Rita Manley-King recounted in the weeks after the devastating Slater Fire hit the community of Happy Camp, California. "The evacuation has gone out. Everybody has got the text from 2-1-1. They know [the fire] is coming," Rita shared, "I ran downtown to check on friends and family and I had just seen a woman who I had known for years. She is in her bathrobe, her children are in their pajamas. She is looking at me...in shock and she's like 'we just lost everything we own. The entire ranch is gone.'" At that moment, the Listos Disaster Preparedness Training kicked in for someone across the street, she recalls.

Months earlier, United Way of Northern California's 2-1-1 Program Specialist, Jacqueline Nushi, was making her way through Siskiyou County communities with boxes of the Listos Disaster Preparedness Guide. "These people who took the training, they still carry around their disaster guides. I even had one lady say that this was her bible," Jacque shared. "You just see such a difference in people who...took that hour training.... They are so much more relaxed and at peace even though they lost everything."

In the moment it was needed most, disaster preparedness training became a rallying cry. Rita said, "That training gave a few people the edge to move the rest of the group on. You never know who's going to step up during a situation like that."

Your support of UWNC not only helps communities prepare for potential disasters, it helps families rebuild their homes, provides food & shelter to evacuees, and gives people hope when they need it most. Learn more about Rita's story and disaster preparedness at NorCalUnited.co/youtube.