3:26
A Winter Care Reunion in Concow
December 17, 2023
|
Disaster Relief
On December 17, 2023, Tzu Chi USA Northwest held an event called “Celebrating Resilience” at the Concow Elementary School in Oroville, CA. It featured live music, presentations, an interfaith prayer, a wholesome vegetarian lunch, as well as care items, packed with some T.L.C. by Tzu Chi volunteers.
The event invited survivors of the horrific Camp Fire back in 2018, which had burned down the entire town of Paradise, CA to the ground. At the time, Tzu Chi USA made intense efforts to provide relief to survivors. For some households, the cash cards they received were the only help they were able to get.
In attendance at the event was Peter Nelson, who recalled his experience: “I get choked up because that was the first and only entity that I ran into that really tried to help, and I’m forever grateful… You made me feel really helped.”
Having moved on in his life since then, Peter was happy to be at the event, so much so that he returned the gesture with a donation back to Tzu Chi USA Northwest:
“When I got the text for this [event], I said, ‘I’m coming.’ A couple extra dollars that I could donate back to you guys felt really good. And I’m so glad to have met you people.”
For Megan Bingham, she explained how an event like this was important for her community. “My kids came with, and they loved the music, and the celebration, and getting through our trauma with [all] the support.”
See the cheerful celebration in our video.
