October 30, 2007

The more than 500,000 people who evacuated in advance of California wildfires are leaving shelters. More than 2,000 families are returning to find their homes in ashes. Fueled by aggressive Santa Ana winds, firefighters are still trying to get control of the wildfire that has killed seven and destroyed millions of dollars in property.

VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES WATCH

Approximately 1,000 acres of the La Jolla Indian Reservation (San Diego County) burned in the fires, with several other Native American and Latino communities threatened.

CWS RESPONSE

Church World Service is responding to a request for CWS Emergency Clean-Up Buckets from its California office and the Fallbrook Presbyterian Church, in Fallbrook, San Diego County, California. At a value of $18,000, CWS is providing 400 of the Buckets. Fallbrook is part of a five-church coalition engaged in helping vulnerable communities in the recovery process.

Contributions to support this emergency appeal may be made online, sent to your denomination, or to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 46515. Please designate: California Wildfires (Appeal # 6297).

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net