Valley nonprofits send nearly $250K in emergency kits and supplies to SoCal fire victims

As devastating and deadly fires continue to burn in Southern California, South Valley residents are jumping in to help the survivors.

"The value of the trucks that we are sending out is almost a quarter million dollars of resources," said Raquel Garcia, the executive director of CityServe Tulare-Kings County.

"To just have that is nothing short of a miracle, and I am just super grateful that we can provide it."

She is the only employee of the small nonprofit which is among the groups making a big impact.

Two truckloads are headed south with emergency disaster kits and supplies.

"We put 28 pallets on each truck. Literally filled them at max capacity, resources, and absolutely everything we had," says Raquel.

The supplies were meant for the 2023 floods in Tulare County, but they arrived a year and a half late.

They sat in a warehouse in Exeter for months.

This week, they are finally going to serve their purpose.

She says the timing of it all and that she had every item on the list, like emergency kits, cots, bedding, toiletries and more needed for fire victims is almost hard to believe.

"I believe that God aligns things just as they should be at the moment that you need them. And this story is truly one only God could have mastered," expressed Raquel.

Also taking action is Elite Restoration by Villegas, a fire, smoke and water mitigation damage company in Visalia

The company's owner, Felipe Villegas, graduated from San Fernando High School.

He took his team to Southern California to see the damage for themselves.

General Manager Cynthia Williams and the team were called to help.

They are now filling up a trailer filled with supplies.

"It's devastating, it's sad, and you put yourself in that situation where these people's lives were normal yesterday, and today everything is upside down. People lost their home, family members and their animals, everything they have," said Cynthia.

They are asking for bottled water, toiletries, pet food and anything that could help fire victims.

The company is located at 2036 Mineral King Ave in Visalia and will be accepting donations through Saturday morning.

City Serve is also accepting donations, you can text the word GIVE at 559-314-2785 (CSTK).

You can reach out to them directly at (559) 802-3667 or visit their webpage by clicking here.

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