Our Wildfire Fund Drive on Friday was a huge success.
Thanks to our community, we raised $100,000 for victims of the Hawk Fire. $57,000 of that came from in-person donations at The Atlantis Casino Resort Spa. The other $43,000 was collected from our QR code from Friday through the weekend and into Monday morning.
“Catholic Charities is literally just the conduit for all this generosity,” says Marie Baxter, CEO of Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada. “We will hold those funds, and we will start this week getting them out to the individuals who have the most need.”
Marie Baxter with Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada says FEMA, Washoe County, and the American Red Cross vet people before they receive donations.
“There are individuals who will go out, and they will determine the level of loss. They will look at the matching between people's insurance, and what's happening with potential federal and state resources,” she says.
The Red Cross then refers these people to Catholic Charities, which is putting dollars where they'll have the most impact.
“A great example of that sometimes is someone who's been a renter,” Baxter says. “They may not have access to all of these different sources that someone that's a homeowner might have, but they have the same needs.”
We also received many item donations on Friday, ranging from food to blankets. Baxter says these items won't be reserved specifically for fire victims since the drive's main goal was to raise money, but they'll still be made available through a resource that fire victims are already using.
“The majority of those items we put in our essentials closet, because we've been seeing people literally for the last three weeks, with all three fires, coming to Catholic Charities to replace their food, but also to replace their essential items,” Baxter says.
From all of us at 2 News Nevada, thank you again to everyone who donated to our Wildfire Fund Drive, in partnership with the Reno Media Group, Catholic Charities, and The Atlantis.
