Friends, Here is a recent report from Jewish agencies in Southern California about the impact of the fires on everyday life.
Dr. Yaffa Weisman Library Director The Frances-Henry Library Hebrew Union College-JIR 3077 University Ave. Los Angeles, California 90007 www.huc.edu/libraries/losangeles 213.7652170 -----Original Message----- From: Windmueller, Steven Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:07 AM To: LA Staff - All (no students); LA Students - Fall 2007 Subject: Southern California wildfire Some of you have inquired about how the Jewish community in Southern California is responding to the wildfires. In conversations with our local Jewish Federation and our Jewish Family Service as well as the JCPA (Jewish Council for Public Affairs), I have learned the following: Primary volunteer and service work is being handled by the American Red Cross, although our JFS agency is currently providing social workers to deal with the issues of emotional stress and trauma among victims. Other resources will be required at a later point. There will no doubt be some special emergency campaigns established to assist those made homeless by the fires. The situation is particularly serious in North San Diego County where volunteers and resources are particularly important at this time. I am enclosing below a report prepared yesterday and provided to us by the JCRC Director of the San Diego Jewish Federation that will give you some greater insights into the dimensions of this difficult situation. Hi, everyone. In a nutshell, a short time ago the sheriff's department reported 346,000 homes evacuated and they expect that number to increase before the Santa Ana winds subside later in the week. Virtually every synagogue and agency is affected. In fact, I would dare to say that everyone in this city knows someone who was evacuated or were themselves directly impacted. From my house I could see the fire line about 20 miles in the distance (I was evacuated in the 2003 fires). I sent my kids to a friend's for the day because I didn't want them home by themselves (they're 14 and 16) watching the fire in the distance or on the news, scaring themselves crazy. Some synagogues were evacuated. Our community's Jewish nursing home evacuated all of the residents at their assisted living facility; most of the residents of their SNF in a different part of the County were also evacuated. As of right now I have not heard reports of any Jewish institutions sustaining serious damage (other than smoke). All schools in San Diego County - public and private, elementary through college - are closed today. The Wild Animal Park and Sea World are also closed. Many businesses are closed. Most major freeways are open for passage except when the fire is too close for safety. The roads need to be kept as open as possible for evacuation purposes. They're asking people to minimize cell phone usage. Our power went down for a few minutes yesterday (a word from G-d, perhaps?). Power has gone down to thousands of customers throughout the area. Qualcomm (The San Diego Chargers stadium) has become a major staging ground and shelter. Today's temperature will be HOT (about 95 near my house) with very low humidity and high winds (that's part of the Santa Ana weather condition). If people want to do something please direct them to the United Jewish Federation Website at www.jewishinsandiego.org. Unfortunately we've had experience with this before. We're taking donations which will be used for short term cash relief for those in need. We're working very closely with the Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Family Service (they'll provide the direct services). We're keeping track of our rabbis and other agencies. Everyone has been terrific. . --Tina Tina Friedman Director, Community Relations United Jewish Federation of San Diego County 4950 Murphy Canyon Road San Diego CA 92123 telephone 858-571-3444 fax 858-571-0701 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit our Website at www.jewishinsandiego.org Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
