Fire Response Fund Grants

Photo credit: Shmuel Thaler

Neighbors Helping Neighbors – Fire Response Fund Grants

Thank you for supporting our community as we recover from the CZU Lightning Complex Fire.

In these early days of rebuilding, we are working with our nonprofit partners to directly assess emergent needs of those who have lost their homes and are struggling with displacement. We are coordinating with county leaders to ensure that we maximize public relief resources.

We anticipate that the short and long term needs will be extensive. 100% of the Fire Response Funds go to our community.

Together, we will rebuild and heal our beloved community.

Initial grants have been made to:

• Bonny Doon Community Preschool purchase supplies and equipment necessary to safely reopen the preschool.
  
• Bonny Doon Community School Foundation to provide fire survivors with school supplies and technology for the youth’s distance learning.
• Boulder Creek Recreation and Parks District to support meals for fire survivors at the Boulder Creek Resource Function and to purchase gift cards from local Boulder Creek restaurants to distribute to fire survivors who live in Boulder Creek.
• Boulder Creek Volunteer Fire Department for their emergency services.
• Campesino Appreciation Caravan for N95 masks for farmworkers due to poor air quality.
• Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey to support fire victims and evacuees with critical needs and direct emergency financial assistance.
• Davenport Resource Service Center (a program of Community Action Board) to support fire victims and evacuees with critical needs, direct emergency financial assistance, and case management.
• Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks for fire damage assessment work in Big Basin State Park.
• Mountain Community Resources (a program of Community Bridges) to support fire victims and evacuees with critical needs, direct emergency financial assistance, and case management.
• Office of Emergency Services Santa Cruz County for emergency gas cards for evacuees.
• San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District for gift cards to support basic supplies for families who have lost or damaged homes due to the fires.
• San Lorenzo Valley Youth Council/ Little People's Repertory Theatre to provide a safe space at the Annex for fire survivors to use for work and distance learning
• Santa Cruz Education Foundation to support fire victims and evacuees with direct financial assistance.
• Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation to care for evacuated animals.
• Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Foundation for onsite improvements to aid conditions for evacuees.
• Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County to purchase additional healthy shelf stable fruits, vegetables, and food for fire evacuees.
• United Policyholders for their Roadmap to Recovery Program for households impacted by the fires. To work with families in coordination with community partners to navigate the long term recovery. Providing guidance and free workshops on collecting available insurance benefits, making decisions, and getting back home after a catastrophic loss.
• Valley Churches United to support fire victims and evacuees with critical needs and direct emergency financial assistance.
• Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County to support coordination of shelter volunteers.

This page will be regularly updated.

Want to Share Your Nonprofit's Fire Response Needs?

Grants fromt he Fire Response Fund are being made proactively, as we listen in to evolving needs identified by key partners, disaster response coordinators, and local leaders. While we are not offering an application process for Fire Response Fund grants, we want to stay in tune with needs as you see them from your nonprofit's perspective.

We won’t be able to provide funding to everyone who needs it. However, we hope this will give us a better understanding of the most urgent challenges affecting our most vulnerable people. This will help us prioritize deploying resources to where the need is greatest.

Please complete this short survey on behalf of your organization. It's a living document, so feel free to complete it again whenever responses need updating. Completion of the survey should not be considered a request for funding. If we see an opportunity to support the work you're doing from the Fire Response Fund, we will contact you directly to learn more.