Donations pouring in for Taylor Bridge Fire victims
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CLE ELUM, Wash. -- Some in Kittitas County are blocked from their homes, while others have no home to go back to after this week's devastating Taylor Bridge Fire.
In an effort to help those in need, neighbors in Ellensburg and Cle Elum have banded together to create one-stop donation shops, and the results have been truly overwhelming.
"We're not picky. We're here to help you, so please come on down," said Paula Demlinger, who's preparing the donations.
Demlinger said the shelves at the shop are just waiting to be emptied, but word hasn't spread yet to evacuees.
"That's probably our biggest challenge right now," she said.
Word has gotten out to those willing to donate, and people have been dropping off everything from food to clothing. New boxes, bags and piles of perfectly good stuff just keep coming in.
But Demlinger and her fellow workers want to get the donations out to evacuees, and they've actually had to turn down donations.
If possible, Central Washington has simply been too generous.
Demlinger and her friend Charity Rattray have been handing out flyers at incident command centers in both towns to let it be known that donations are ready to make a difference.
"Everybody needs a bar of soap and a fresh wash cloth," Demlinger said.
The state emergency management division says the best way to help the victims of the Taylor Bridge fire is donate cash rather than goods.
Donate to the Red Cross, Inland Northwest Region here.
In an effort to help those in need, neighbors in Ellensburg and Cle Elum have banded together to create one-stop donation shops, and the results have been truly overwhelming.
"We're not picky. We're here to help you, so please come on down," said Paula Demlinger, who's preparing the donations.
Demlinger said the shelves at the shop are just waiting to be emptied, but word hasn't spread yet to evacuees.
"That's probably our biggest challenge right now," she said.
Word has gotten out to those willing to donate, and people have been dropping off everything from food to clothing. New boxes, bags and piles of perfectly good stuff just keep coming in.
But Demlinger and her fellow workers want to get the donations out to evacuees, and they've actually had to turn down donations.
If possible, Central Washington has simply been too generous.
Demlinger and her friend Charity Rattray have been handing out flyers at incident command centers in both towns to let it be known that donations are ready to make a difference.
"Everybody needs a bar of soap and a fresh wash cloth," Demlinger said.
The state emergency management division says the best way to help the victims of the Taylor Bridge fire is donate cash rather than goods.
Donate to the Red Cross, Inland Northwest Region here.
There's a lot of donations coming from this side too, just on wednesday I dropped off diapers, wipes, formula and baby clothes to be taking over east today.
Earlier this week our workplace had a message about helping people in the Phillipines. That's a worthy cause but I got H/R to announce a drive for the Taylor Bridge fire victims. I said c'mon this is HERE. And we got it going. It's good to see this article about people helping others.
We all need to help one another during tragic times to help our community stay strong, keep jobs going ect. when tragedy strikes we all stop, and basic life work and everything gets thrown out the widow, the faster we help out the quicker these folks can get back on their feet again. LOVE THY NEIGHBOR right?