____________________ The Jewish Citizen              by Donald H. Harrison

PIZZA PARTY—Residents of Seacrest Village are served by volunteers and staff at Congregation Beth Israel, to which they were evacuated as a precaution against the advancing wildfire . CBI photos
Acts of kindness, large and small, characterize response to fires

SAN DIEGO—Both as a community and as individuals, Jews have been responding to the fire disaster that has displaced more than a half million people and destroyed more than 1,000 structures in San Diego County.  The mitzvahs being done are both large and small, but all of them are important.

One of the most immediate challenges facing the Jewish community was transferring to safety the seniors living in the two Jewish retirement homes known as the Seacrest Villages.  Although they are separated by many miles, both homes were threatened by the Witch Creek fire in the central portion of the county.  The first to come under threat on Monday morning was Seacrest Village at Rancho Bernardo, a northern inland section of the City of San Diego bordering the city of Poway.

Pam Ferris, executive director of Seacrest Village Retirement Communities, barely had arranged for some 37 Rancho Bernardo seniors to be transported to the sister facility at Encinitas, when she learned on Monday afternoon that safety officials were issuing a voluntary evacuation advisory for Encinitas as well.  Although the fire hadn't reached that area, winds were blowing in that direction.

Ferris decided to have the Rancho Bernardo seniors continue on buses to Heritage Pointe, another senior facility which is located in Mission Viejo in neighboring Orange County.  But that still left the problem about what to do for the seniors in the facility in Encinitas, a coastal city north of San Diego.

It was decided to transport approximately 20 Encinitas residents to a skilled nursing facility in Laguna Hills, close to Heritage Pointe in Mission Viejo.  Another 100 were evacuated to Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform congregation that occupies a large campus in the La Jolla section of San Diego.  There, two social halls were transformed into dormitories and lounges. 

That left 32 patients who require the most acute care still at the Encinitas facility. Until such time as authorities declared evacuation from Encinitas to be mandatory, that was deemed the safest place for them—close to all the medical equipment that they require, Ferris said.

She noted that on Monday when Poway was under evacuation orders, ambulances were sent on a priority basis for the patients at Pomerado Hospital. If mandatory evacuation were ordered for Encinitas, the acute care patients at Seacrest Village would have received similar priority for transfer to area hospitals.  Especially now that the other residents have been safely transferred, "if we do have to evacuate them (the acute care patients), we will be able to do it in a calm and systematic way," Ferris explained.

A local furniture company donated mattresses for the cots at Congregation Beth Israel and other donations—such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other hygienic items—also were gathered. 

Pizzas were delivered, making the seniors' first night at Congregation Beth Israel a pizza party night.  Volunteers from the Reform congregation came in to play games, entertain, and just be with the residents.

Ferris said she saw one resident seated with a blanket on a couch at Beth Israel.  When she asked the resident if she could help her pull the blanket over her, the resident responded that there was no hurry, that she was imagining that she was at the beginning of a long flight similar to the one she had taken from South Africa to the United States.

Lesley Mills, acting executive director of Congregation Beth Israel, said although it is likely that some members of the congregation were among the half million evacuees in the county, most had made arrangements to stay with friends or relatives and therefore didn't need to take shelter at the congregation.

"We did have one family show up last night, but they have since moved to be with their family in Palm Springs," Mills said.

Elsewhere, Chabad at San Diego State had eight families answer its published invitation to evacuees to stay at its facilities in the College area of San Diego.

Jewish agency and synagogue directors, as well as observers from the national United Jewish Communities, participated this morning in a conference telephone call to assess how the fires had affected an estimated 120,000 Jewish community members in San Diego County.

As a first order of business, they decided that Jewish Family Service would set up a Fire Support Hotline at (800) 295-4254 and an email line at firesupport@jfssd.org.

Which community members have had their homes destroyed by fire is not yet known, as information is sketchy between the fire lines and the evacuation centers.  However, plans were made to draw up a master list of Jewish  communal members who have suffered such losses, and to notify them of their eligibility for assistance.

Four years ago, when the Cedar fire destroyed 500 homes in San Diego County, the community raised about $375,000 both for short-term and long-term needs, according to Charlene Seidle, associate director of the Jewish Community Foundation.

Since the creation on Monday of an emergency fund in response to this year's fires, more than $60,000 already has been raised, she said.  In addition, Jewish Family Service is accepting donations of non-perishable food, diapers, baby formula, and personal hygiene items, according to Jill Borg Spitzer, JFS executive director

Seidle said each of 40 Jewish families who had been burned out of their homes in 2003 was given a $1,000 grant from the Jewish community as an expression of solidarity and to help  defray some immediate costs such as new clothes, temporary lodgings and replacement of business equipment.  "I remember we bought one lady a sewing machine, because that was how she earned her living," Seidle said.

Thereafter, she said, under the direction of a case manager hired to work with fire victims, more grants were given out to assist those families in their recovery.

In addition to creating a new data base and preparing to administer financial relief, the communal leadership surveyed each other to determine if the fires had thus far caused any property damage. 

There was some smoke damage at the Lawrence Family JCC, Jacobs family campus, requiring the rental of four air scrubbers, according to Michael Cohen, the executive director.

"We've had them going and today the air is pretty good," Cohen said.

No synagogues or other communal buildings were known to have suffered fire damage, although some were closed because they were in evacuation areas.

Michael Rassler, chief executive officer of the United Jewish Federation (who himself was evacuated from his home with his family), described the response of both the Jewish community and the larger general community to the fires to be "personally and professionally very uplifting. There are so many people who are doing so much to help strangers.  Everyone is coming together to do what they can; it is very inspiring.  The mood of the community, while somber and very concerned, is one of caring and action for and in behalf of those in need.  We know that the emergency will go on for a while, so it will take a sustained response and sustained compassion."

Schools throughout San Diego County, including the Jewish schools, were closed today, with some planning to reopen on Thursday.



MITZVAH RANGERS—In top photo, Shor Masori, right, makes a sword for three young evacuees at Qualcomm Stadium. In bottom photo, he and Tayo Rhodes, a fellow first grader at Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, share a moment of elation after they give bags of toys to Officer Cylnthia Long.  Sandi Masori photos

Among the pupils who had the day off today from Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School were first graders Shor Masori, who is my grandson, and his friend Tayo Rhodes.  With their mothers, Sandi Masori and Denise Rhodes, they collected stuffed animals, action figures, and other barely used toys from their rooms, stuffed them into large black plastic bags and loaded them into their car.

Then the mothers and sons drove to Qualcomm Stadium, one of San Diego's evacuation centers, where Shor and Tayo, calling themselves "the Mitzvah Rangers" distributed their toys to children of their own age and younger.  They also made simple balloon swords and dogs for their peers.

Asked why they were willing to give away so many of their possessions, Shor responded simply, "there are some kids who don't have any."

Tomorrow, although there are no formal classes, Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School students who want to go to school will host their contemporaries from Chabad Hebrew Academy in a 10 a.m. to noon play date.

Although there are justifiable feelings of good will among San Diegans, members of the Jewish community who lead San Diego's law enforcement community are not taking any chances.  Sheriff Bill Kolender says evacuated neighborhoods are being patrolled to guard against possible looting, and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said anyone caught looting will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.