Local Nonprofits Support Community After the Almeda Fire

 Local Nonprofits Support Community After the Almeda Fire

Interview with Allison French June 5, 2022

by Debra Moon

    Author’s note: It became apparent to me during this interview that it would be impossible to document everything that Talent Maker City, Rogue Climate, and Rogue Action Center did to address the emergency in Talent immediately after the Almeda Fire. Some of what unfolded are recorded here. There is another article titled “Big Fire Relief in a Small Center”, which further documents some of what these organizations did and are still doing. 

    On September 9, 2020, the day after the Almeda fire, the leaders of three local nonprofits connected to discuss the immediate need within the community of Talent. Hannah Sohl, Michelle Glass, Alli French, and Ryan Wilcoxson put their heads together to set up the Talent Fire Aid Station in front of Talent Maker City and the Grotto. Rogue Climate, Rogue Action Center, and Talent Maker City were instrumental in responding to the direct needs of community members following the devastating fire. Rogue Climate and Rogue Action Center’s involvement is particularly important considering their entire office in Phoenix burned to the ground in the fire and yet they were the first responding organizations. 

    Board members from all three nonprofits and dozens of volunteers showed up to assist with the aid station. People from Ashland biked in water since the municipal water supply had been shut off. And staff worked overtime to help get resources, power, supplies, and communications to those in need. “People like Dave and Kimber from Art Bop Beer Co showed up and submerged themselves in helping. Ryan Baker from Middleway Medicine set up a free acupuncture station, Kandice Daly from the Talent Club offered their walk-in refrigerator to store perishable food items …the community was out in full force to help,” said Alli French in describing how people showed up to help. 

    Among the first things that Talent Maker City did was to build phone charging stations in the parking lot in front of their building and the Grotto for fire victims to be able to charge their phones. TMC itself needed generators since power was out all over town. So, they procured some generators to meet their own needs and the needs of the fire victims. They made signs that were helpful for the public to know what to donate and to direct traffic in and around the aid station. Food was stored inside their building. Water and canned goods were left outside.

    It was a very collaborative effort. Jack Latvala, owner of Star Properties in Talent, provided ice and porta-potties. Two essentials for the fire victims. Quilts were donated from across the nation. Locals brought requested items to the station. Needed items were tortillas, rice, baby toys, books, bedding, toiletries, and diapers, etc. Rogue Food Unites was created, coordinating and delivering meals from over 50 restaurants that were available free to fire victims. 

    After four weeks of intense work at the aid station, TMC began to feel the need to get back to work making things to help community members who had lost everything. Rogue Climate and Rogue Action Center continued to oversee the aid station. The Grotto continued to provide free pizzas weekly to those impacted by the fire. 

    Shortly after the fire, Katie Hughes, head of Girls Build in Portland, reached out to Alli French at TMC. Girls Build is an agency similar in mission and vision to TMC where they work to teach young girls the trades for future career success. Katie wanted to know how they could help. Some of the Girls Build instructors live here in Southern Oregon and they wanted to volunteer their help. TMC’s Rise Up + Rebuild Workshops were created! TMC partnered up with Girls Build to build beds for fire victims. They created workshops where they taught tool safety and basic building techniques to students and community members to build beds for people who’d lost their homes in the fire. Thanks to plywood donations from Timber Products Co and mattress donations from Gates Furniture in Grants Pass, the beds were built at almost no cost. 

    Teaching students how to build the beds introduced them to skills in the trades and the opportunity for high-wage, high-demand jobs. The workshops have been both relevant and helpful, particularly for underserved youth, many of whom lost their homes in the fire. In addition to useful skills training, the program provides youth with purposeful and meaningful work, in which they can contribute to their community and to be a part of their own recovery from the fire. “Delivering the beds has been a very touching experience for us and for the students. We get to meet folks who were directly impacted by the fire and hear about their experience. We’ve delivered beds to entire families who were living out of a garage and sleeping on the floor. People are so thankful for the beds,” says Alli French of Talent Maker City. To this day, over 70 beds have been built and the Rise Up + Rebuild workshops continue as recovery from the fire will take years. 

    TMC has been a very active contributor to the Gateway transitional housing project in which the City supplied many fire victims with temporary housing. It was through Jon LeGarza’s vision, head of the Talent Urban Renewal Agency at the time, that the Gateway transitional housing area came to be. 53 brand new RV’s house community members and families who lost their homes in the fire. The entire site is landscaped thanks to Plant Oregon, RV sites are adorned with planter boxes made by TMC with the Rogue Action Center and the families who live there. Planters now contain Talent Tomato plants provided by the Talent Historical Society, and flowers planted by the residents. This area also contains a children’s play area and spots for food trucks, a community garden, and more. Talent Maker City also partnered with the Talent Public Arts Committee on the Gateway Mural Project. TMC instructors worked with students to paint the 32 murals that surround the Gateway Transitional Housing. These murals can be seen from Hwy 99. The Talent Public Arts Committee vetted the artwork for the murals that were submitted from community members based on the theme, “Stronger Together.” Many members of the TPAC worked as instructors for Talent Maker City during the summer of 2021 - and over 100 students and community members contributed to the completion of the Mural Project.

    As if all this were not enough, TMC went on to yet another project to teach more skills to young people and help them creatively process the trauma from the fire. The Manzanita Project, led by instructor Rick Evans, taught students basic welding skills to create a metal tree sculpture of the Manzanita. “To see the students empowered to create something beautiful by using fire, the very element that destroyed their homes, was remarkable. They learned how to shape the pliable metal into the form they wanted. Creating something beautiful that could possibly help students heal from the trauma of fire,” says Alli French. 

    Eleven sculptures were made. One sculpture was placed at every school in the Phoenix-Talent School District, one at the Fire Station, two along the Greenway bike path, and one each at schools in Santiam and McKenzie, who also experienced devastating fires on September 8th, 2020. 

    Thank you, Talent Maker City, Rogue Climate, Rogue Action Center, Rogue Food United, Girls Build and all the local people who worked so hard to bring relief to fire victims!