CA Fires

i like what you said critter. all of it. and local unaffected nurseries can prob. use our dollars too. maybe we could find one that specializes in native calif. plants. that way our money donations could go for plants instead of postage.

hmmmmmmm.........run like a co-op..........who do i know that is exceptional at running co-ops and every other thing that she attempts? woof! bark! yip!

I'm with critter on the "Helping Hands" name. It isn't intuitive to the forum everyone has in mind. (Which is a fabulous idea, by the way!) I love the idea of a main forum with threads entitled with the specific disaster.

What about something distinct for the main forum such as "Disaster Relief?" Or maybe "relief" is too...I don't know the word..... "Disaster Update" sounds more up-to-the minute which would be a good place for the current thread on the fires in the California Gardening forum.

Pardon the stream of consciousness....

My wife (not current - the first one) e-mailed to let me know that our sons in Ca. are ok and she is flying out there to visit them this week-end.

Ham operators have a long history of supplying emergency communications in disaster situations. I operated a MARS station while overseas and it was the crews only means of communicating with family back in the States. There are no land lines, cell towers etc on Monami-Tora-Shima Island (yes you can find it on a globe if you have really good eyesight or a good magnifying glass). They probably do have Sat comms now.

Oh, hadn't thought about that Critter. You are right. A lot of people would see "Helping Hands" and I'm sure there would be lots of posts regarding personal problems and not necessarily the natural disaster crisis.

I do like the idea of a forum titled "Relief Efforts". But, that wouldn't be specific for the victims of the fires in Southern Cal. Maybe we could have a temporary Southern California forum to get ideas from DG'ers in that area of what they need after the ash has settled and the fires are out. It's going to be a long time before things get back to some semblance of normalcy. By springtime some folks may be to the point of thinking about planting, but many are still going to be trying to rebuild their homes.


Will be watching for more discussion on this subject ... like most, I don't have any definite ideas either, but many of us would like to see something constructive come out of such devastation. DG'ers are such a caring, generous group of people. I just know a lot of people want to help re-plant gardens in Southern California.

LOL, Mamajack!


Hey Critter, is she by chance talking about you?


"Woof", "Bark", "Yip" .... how about a "Meow" too!


:)

Nope, I'm completely on the other coast!

I think it's fine to have a generalized forum rather than one specific to the Southern CA fires... that way, people know what forum to check whenever a big disaster strikes.

Dyson, I know about HAM operators keeping communications going when conventional means are down... but I wasn't sure if you had a specific role in mind for radio at this point with regard to the CA fires. I'm sure operators in the area have networked together to provide emergency communications where needed.

critter's right.........i was talking about the one on the opposite coast from her. lol.

Hey it is only 3000 miles.

Ok, I got lost for a minute .... you must have meant 4paws, who I see is in California!!

ah, sweet mamajack...I'm glad you're watching out for me, though your praise is a bit over the top (you make me grin).

Whatever I can do, I will do!. :-) (pant, pant, pant) Just give the command...I'm physically far from the fires, but certainly can figure out a way to assist, once we know what that assistance is.

This thread started out as a well-intentioned, good idea from IslandShari: a caring person halfway across the world who ostensibly wants to make a difference and reaches out to help californians. Forty seven posts later, it managed to degenerate into an ethics committee, a naming committee, a what-if committee, a communications committee and a general discussion about this and that.

I propose we get back to the subject at hand: helping California gardeners out when things settle down and the dust settles. Let's concentrate on what we CAN do: matters relating to chlorophyl. If enough people from different interest groups and all walks of life all band together, a lot can be done to alleviate whatever suffering is going on out there. We can effect a change in some ways. Others are out of our control. We can't rebuild homes. We can't replant California. We can't relocate those unfortunate victims twhose homes burned to the ground. We can't stop fraud artists from prospering through the good deeds of others.

Respectfully submitted in my usual pragmatic and blunt way.
Sylvain.

I propose a name for the Forum: "Gardener's Disaster Relief Efforts," with threads for Hurricanes, Flood, Wildfires, Earthquakes, etc...

I think we've all just been chatting, waiting on input from Dave as to where to begin.

Shari: I hope none of us have offended your efforts with our discussing. I don't feel that we've ended up degenerating into an ethics committee .... it's just everyone posting their thoughts.

There's not a lot any of us can do at this point to help rebuild/replant gardens destroyed by fires. Flowers and plants are the farthest things from the minds of those whose homes and belongings have been destroyed. But, we can let them know that we are here to help with that aspect of their lives when it resumes.

Stream of consciousness is good. Sylvain, thanks for bringing us back to the point. Please stand by! Helping Hands is a warm and fuzzy name that I like, but I understand the concerns about people mistaking the purpose. I will leave it to admin to deal with that, since they have previous experience to go by.

How about contacting local gardening clubs? We could coordinate with them and try to supply what is needed - For Gardeners by Gardeners.

HI; 4paws..list was the website. I know that there isn't much that will transfer from WI, but will check the rest of the list. What is wonderful in one area..etc.
Hoping that the winds have continued to die down.
Lovely moon gave me some peace last night. New dog Dandy doesn't like machines...vacuum cleaner etc. Now, I am definitely Not a tidy house person..but after a few months....
Will keep checking back here.

Oh my heavens Lin! How could anyone be offended by such wonderful caring people trying to find a way to help?! Not to worry.

Sylvain...blunt and wonderful! I felt like I got a big squeezy polar bear hug! Thanks for getting us back on track.

As far as a forum goes, I feel that Relief Efforts would be better than Helping Hands for all the reasons previously stated. One place where info not only about helping, but contact info and updates on the event could be posted...that would be good. DG is so large that info posted in one forum may not get seen by others, but if we had one forum strictly for this sort of thing more effort could be spent finding ways to help, than simply finding info.

As far as California goes...I love the idea of a local nursery/ag center/garden center being our focal point. But the ones that are advertising leave me cold, (they have time to advertise?? why aren't they out there helping??), so maybe we need to wait just a bit - until things get a little more settled, and then the folks here on DG from California can give us suggestions about places they know that are doing good things...no one is going to know better than they. I do know that the San Diego Union had mentioned some agencies helping the animals....with a little time, we may find some of the schools or nurseries up the valley doing something similar for plants....

You are all wonderful....thank you!

stella, let us know of any nurseries or growers who are helping when the time comes. what do we do with this thread in the meantime? i am afraid i will lose track if we "disband" for now as i only found it accidentally in the first place.

I don't think we need to "disband"...the idea for a new forum for this sort of "disaster aide" won't get going unless we indicate by number of responses that enough people feel it would be a good thing. I have already worn out admin by my insessant peading for a Tropical Gardening forum, so maybe someone - or all of us - can keep the ball rolling if we feel a need for this type of forum. Those of you in California Gardening - keep us posted if you hear anything that may be of help here, okay?

are you saying that we all need to write admin asking for this new forum? is that how it's done?

OK, regardless of forums or anything else, I have written to a well-known gardener who has a nursery here http://www.weidners.com/ and asked for her input. I'll let you know what/if anything she has to say. Evelyn is one of the kindest people I have ever met.

Kaper - Great job!!!!! Keep us posted on what she says! Thanks so much!!

Mamajack - Our wonderful DG gurus keep an eye on things that get a lot of traffic...so the more responses this thread gets, and the more people that feel this would be a good idea, the more likely it will be that a new forum is created. That wasn't my initial intention, but I don't think its a bad idea. We went through something much similar with hurricane season, and DGers that were in the paths....

Hi Shari, you never fail to amaze me with you thoughtfulness and kindness, I live in Scotland UK and watch with horror all the devastation, the hard work from the fire fighters AND all the other agencies that are working flat out to help folks and get things under control, I know distances can be a problem for us over the other side of the pond, but will be only too happy to donate, or offer help in whatever way is required so long as it is real practical help, just get things started and let us know the best way around this, Good Luck and love to you Shari, with a big hug to follow. WeeNel.

Well, and the odd part about a forum like this is, it'll get heavy use only when something bad occurs. In a perfect world, free of natural disasters, we would never need a "Relief" forum. However, sad but true, there will be bad things that happen, and that's when we need someplace to go to, for information, updates and how-to-help ideas.

Personally speaking, I think it's a great idea that I wish no-one ever needed to use! (does that make sense?...)

Makes perfect sense to me tucsonjill! I live in Florida and we've had Hurricane's and Wildfires (although nothing compared to the fires in Southern Cal!) Those horrible fires have cause so much devastation. I know we are all anxious for those in the danger zones out west and all have great compassion for those who've lost their family members, homes and belongings. I think it was a wonderful and heartfelt gesture of Islandshari to get this discussion going and hopefully we here in the Garden will be able to help folks renew their own gardens when the time is right.

I think garden relief forum is a good idea.
We were about 2 miles away from the fires and its pretty scary when all it would of taken was the winds to shift to the south. We were lucky but so many people were not so fortunate. I actually saw an interview with a person who lost there home and they had no insurance.

Any how the thing is it could take up to a year before people can actually start planting again with all the construction going on out here. Probably getting in touch with the sandiego horticulture society would be the best way

http://www.sdhortsoc.org/


the president is very nice and im sure would have ideas on you all can help. most houses were in zone 8 and 9 ramona might be 7b

I was just thinking the hole time I dont know how people can live in hurricane areas, I couldnt imangine going through this all the time

I will take Hurricane's any day over Fire Storms! We had Wildfire's in our area in 1998 ... Really Scary!

I have made very specific suggestions on post 4124332 and again on post 4125022 that no one has responded to. I really do like the suggestion on post 4125237 submitted by Critterologist regarding having something like a gift certficate good at a local garden center. If that is the case you know the plants are suited to the area, they are in good condition and it helps the local economy as well. It will help DGers with regaining their gardens which is most of what DG is about and also bring some needed income to local garden centers. I have a rough idea of how it could work, but since I am not really familiar with these things perhaps you all could refine it a little (or a lot!)

Set up a general fund on DG for disaster relief that we can all contribute to. People who wanted to tap into the fund would have to be approved by admin. and would receive a "voucher" for a particular dollar amount that they could print off from their computer.

For this particular one contact local garden centers to see if they would want to participate in a coupon/voucher type program. I know that there is a wide area affected, so we would need local volunteers to gather contact information. We could have other folks actually call the garden center and explain what we are trying to do. The garden center would accept the voucher and in turn mail it back to DG to have the actual money released.

I am sure that people more familiar with day to day operations of a business can make this workable, but this at least it gives a starting point.

You could also donate from your own gardens which is part of the backbone of DG and something I would not hesitate to do for a second. Which is why a general forum for disaster relief would be good with threads that are specific to the job at hand such as the CA fires. That way folks could be very specific with what their needs are and we could be very specific about how to answer those needs.

During hurricane Katrina and Rita, all threads originally started on the "Weather" forum. Katrina got so bad that we had another forum for it. A general "relief" forum is not a terrible idea.

Also, what we did during the hurricanes-
- a dmail was sent out to all subscribers in the area of the disaster
- volunteers were set up to "buddy up" with those who needed help. It was the buddy's job to be in as much contact with the victim as needed to assess needs and coordinate specific requests
- a general fund was set up that anyone could donate to. I was actually in charge of the fund, with Melody as my "watcher" to make sure that funds were used as they were intended.
- one person to keep a sticky thread going to keep up with subscribers who had checked in to DG saying that everything was OK, as well as who had not checked in.

People got on a list to be a "buddy". The buddy job was the most important, and most of them had access to free long distance so that they could track down people, assess needs, and just generally be there for the person to lend an ear.

The reason I was in charge of the funds was simply because some members wanted a little assurance that no one would run off with their donation :)

I have to say that the idea worked very well during the hurricanes, and when those who came up with the idea assumed that we (DG as a whole) would need the framework again at a later time.

How does this sound?

Steph - great idea about the horticultural society. I will check with them on time frames and such. I know it will be a while.

Ann - I so sorry, certainly did not mean to ignore your generous comments. There has just been a lot of discussion here. The voucher system might be a little more admin heavy than what we can do here, but it is definatley worth considering. I was thinking more along the lines of a central locale in various areas where we could send plants and/or seeds and/or cash for DGers to pick up...say for example at XYZ Nursery I send seedlings and cash for a rose bush for Jane Smith to pick up....that kind of thing....but again, it won't be something that will happen right away.

We will get it worked out by the time folks have the energy and inclination to get back to their gardens.

Trish, Sounds perfect to me as long as you are willing to take the time. Know you are pretty busy. Thanks, Sue

Oh Trish - that kind of thing would be wonderful! We cross posted, I hadn't ignored you! I am also collecting names and contact numbers of nurseries, etc. in the affected areas.
Thank you so much!!!!

I am sorry if I sounded a little "snippy", really did not mean to be. Shari, you are appreciated more than you know for your patience and generosity. I am just anxious to get something concrete started instead of just talking about it :^)

Trish, I am still pretty new to DG and have never experienced this type of thing before. It sounds like you have a system that has worked well in the past. If you think it would work well now sign me up I am ready to get something done!

This message was edited Oct 26, 2007 8:57 PM

Having been an active participant in a disaster, I expect it will be a while before people have any idea what they need. Takes some time to just adjust to the traumatic change in your life. Our concerns and wish to help here will be a comfort to them. I remember being very frustrated cause when you are in the crisis, you don't see all the news and information. By the time things settle down, there is no longer any coverage. You end up with little grasp of what happened besides to you. Takes some time to quit feeling scared, angry and confused. AND VERY TIRED! Like everyone here, I think of them and send good wishes! Wish I could send cold tea!

Grammy - how right you are! Cold tea!

No worries Ann, no snippiness heard or received...just concern. I know you want to do something NOW, as do I...but they are not ready for the kind of help we can give yet.

I have family in Rancho Bernardo - who were spared (thank goodness!). They say it is so hard to understand - one house burned, those on either side did not...three burned, no rhyme or reason. Anyway....Mira Costa College, and Cuyamaca High School both have agriculture/horticulture clubs...and there is an RB Garden Club...these are possible contacts for distribution as well as the ones already mentioned. If needed I can get exact addresses/phone numbers.

Shari, I was going to suggest this link: http://www.digitalseed.com/sandiego/gardener/clubs_list.html

Trish did a wonderful job administrating the funds for Katrina folks.

Check out the Katrina Forum.....Jo

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/katrina/all/

Wow Kathleen! Outstanding! That should work magnificently....I am off to read more. Great job!

Shari, Evelyn Weidner suggested San Diego Master Gardeners. Here's the link: http://www.mastergardenerssandiego.org/

Did she say anything else about the idea? Like whether she thought it would work?

Not really, Shari. I don't think she understood what we were suggesting. She thought we were talking about people who lost their homes completely. I wrote back and clarified that it was also people who had damage, were relocated and wanted favorite plants around them, and planning for future rebuilding. I doubt that insurance is going to cover all these things completely. Perhaps I will hear back from her, but somehow I doubt it. A little disappointing, but expectations can get you in trouble. :-)

I have a feeling that working in small groups with community garden groups would be good, but I could be totally wrong.