As California Fires Abate, Residents Struggle to Resume Lives and Livelihoods

As California Fires Abate, Residents Struggle to Resume Lives and Livelihoods

(November 5, 1:00 PM EST) Cool temperatures and rain have continued to aid firefighers in bringing the series of disastrous California blazes under control. Residents continue to move back to evacuated areas, although for several UUs who are members of congregations in the San Diego area, their homes, and the life they once knew, have been lost forever.

Ministers in the San Diego area report that their Sunday worship services were filled with reunions of those evacuated from their homes, sharing of their fright, their concern for one another, and their relief at being able to return to areas evacuated for days. For several families, return to their neighborhoods brought the reality of the disaster home, as they found their homes burned to the ground. Now, the effort to rebuild, to resume some semblance of daily routine, begins.

As First Unitarian Church - San Diego Interim Co-Minister Chester McCall wrote in his recent newsletter column, "The San Diego fires have reminded us of our mortality, leading us to question the value and significance of our own lives. For others there has been the experience of helplessness, or the feeling of guilt because in one sense we were spared while family and friends have lost all that they own. Sometimes we have to accept that there is no making sense of things that happen to us and to others. Sometimes we are called upon to accept events as they happen and to respond with all of our being manifesting that 'human spirit' which connects us one to another and resides deep in our souls.

"The challenges will be many for those whose lives the fire destroyed. A new way of life shall be born. As members of this community and the community at large it is for us all to walk this journey with those who faced the destruction. It is for us all to be reborn anew, giving life a new meaning, giving the holidays before us a new sense of what it means to be thankful, of what it means to have family in our lives and what it means to belong to an extended family we call church."

To meet the needs of the communities impacted by the fires, the Pacific Southwest District of the UUA continues to seek donations to its fire relief fund. The fund, according to District Executive Rev. Ken Brown, will provide much-needed aid "to affected congregations, their members, and communities." Additional funds will be channeled through local aid agencies. The fund has thus far raised over $3,000.

If you wish to contribute to the Pacific Southwest District Fire Relief Fund, please make checks out to:
PSWD Fire Relief Fund

Mail your checks to:
     PSWD Office
     12355 Moorpark St.
     Studio City, CA 91604

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