Disaster Recovery
In response to the Camp Fire in 2018, our church community has been considering its role on the Ridge. More than just a church for SDA community, we are confirmed in our belief to be Christ’s hands and feet to a community in need. The monumental event has created, or uncovered, material, financial, and spiritual needs for each individual or family. All of the initiatives of Disaster Recovery come from one question: “What can we do to address the needs of the people on the Ridge?”
It began with the water wall at the church campus, which gave access to clean water in the initial stage of recovery. Where there was no clean water on the Ridge, we were able to provide it to the community at no cost. From there, home kits were developed to help households re-establish their home. These contained basic items, essentials, needed for meal preparation and dining. Towels, plates, pots & pans, cups, and silverware were all included in the kits. Next came the Shed Project, which provided hundreds of sheds for storage, made possible through tens of thousands of volunteer hours from both local Ridge residents and the volunteers of Maranatha International.
The projects of Disaster Recovery are an outward sign of our interior commitment to loving & serving others. You are invited to take part in the projects, the volunteering, and the changing of lives. Learn more about each project below.
Love Gives is a partnership with Adventist Health, World Vision & Global Empowerment Mission to provide furniture and household items to families on the Ridge. Aimed at removing the financial hurdles of reestablishing a home, the program gives furniture and household items to those who have recently rebuilt and are returning to the Ridge. From May of 2021 when this operation began until current, Love Gives has distributed over $3.7 M worth of product to over 5900 adults and 2500 children. Love Gives is also able to assist survivors from other catastrophic fires in our region.
Beginning in 2016, Love Paradise has always had its eyes on bringing volunteers together to love on the community and that tradition continues. Love Paradise provides two opportunities per year to give back to our community, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. For more information please visit www.loveparadise.net and look for upcoming ways to get involved and Love on Paradise.
Love Builds was a partnership with Academy Mortgage, to provide volunteer labor. One home was built from the ground up for an 83 year old widow on the Ridge who was uninsured.
Love Delivers provided groceries to residents of the Ridge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Family food boxes were assembled and distributed to families throughout the shutdown. It started as four pallets and grew to over 1,200 food boxes to be shared with residents per week, made possible through volunteer efforts. Love Delivers is excited to welcome the Hope Center’s food pantry into our warehouse to continue to address food insecurity in our community.
Delivering a shed is a way to give people the next step in the rebuilding process. After the Camp Fire, a shed provided through the Camp Fire Shed Project allowed residents of the Ridge to free up and move belongings into a dry and secure place. In the end, three rounds of building sheds took place with a total of 452 sheds built and delivered thanks to over 700 local and Maranatha Volunteers International. Many thanks to our donors: American Red Cross, North Valley Community Foundation, Butte Strong Fund, Paradise Rotary Foundation, Adventist Health, Northern California Conference of SDA, North American Division of SDA as well as private donations and donated goods.
Get Involved
To learn more about Disaster Recovery, contact the Center Street Warehouse (DR&D) at 530-762-7232 or via email at joelle@paradiseadventist.org.