The Camp Fire Shed Project: A Community Collaboration
Coordinated by the Paradise Adventist Church, the Camp Fire Shed Project is preparing for a second round of shed building. The upcoming build follows on the heels of the first in November 2019, one year after the Camp Fire. The project came about when Director of Development & Disaster Recovery, Joelle Chinnock, was looking on Facebook and saw a Paradise resident offer to build a shed for a neighbor in need of storage space.
“We can help by building a few sheds! We have a couple contractors in our community, they can come up and help,” Joelle remembers. “By the end of this [series of projects] we could have built 600 sheds”. The idea gained momentum with the partnership of Maranatha Volunteers International in Roseville (https://maranatha.org), who supplied volunteers. Within one week of the first round of shed building, there was talk about doing the project again. By the end of the three weeks in November 2019, 200 sheds were built. The sheds were then delivered to residents over the next few months. The preparations for a second round of building are now underway with many of the same volunteers returning to help.
So far, with the support of the Paradise Rotary Foundation, Adventist Health, the Red Cross, among others, $455,000 has been raised. The Paradise Rotary Foundation has awarded a total of $100,000 of those funds to support the project. The first $50,000 was granted for the November 2019 build. The second, in January 2020 for the upcoming April build. The goal of the pending project is to construct 400 sheds in three weeks. Joelle shared with me her gratitude for Paradise Rotarians “Every time we’ve asked [for assistance], Paradise Rotary has said yes. I’m honored they trust and believe in us.”
Delivering a shed is a way to give people the next step in the rebuilding process. Many are still living out of trailers in the wake of the Camp Fire. The shed allows residents to free up space in their trailer and move belongings into a dry and secure place. One Paradise resident now has a place to store her dialysis medication. Others have stored bikes for their kids safely inside the shed, without having to worry about theft.
The community has responded strongly to this project. “We’ve had so many volunteers sign up, we are waitlisting people now,” Joelle remarked as we toured the Paradise Adventist Church property on Academy Drive in Paradise.
Applications are now open for residents who would like to apply to receive a shed. Included in this upcoming round of building are the areas of Concow and Upper Magailia. For more information, please view the Love Paradise website (www.loveparadise.net).
The Paradise Adventist Church building was destroyed on the day of the fire. They are preparing to rebuild but not without offering assistance and care to the community in the process. When asked about the potential of a round three of shed building, Joelle laughed and shared that plans are in process, with details pending.
To date, the Paradise Rotary Foundation has awarded $118,000 to the various Paradise Adventist Church programs, as made possible from the generosity of worldwide donors and community members. Thank you for your continued support.
Do you have stories to share about Grants In Action? If so, please email contact@paradiserotaryfoundation.org.