Denver nonprofit prepares to donate RVs to wildfire victims in California
There's a great, sudden need for temporary housing for residents of Southern California who have lost their homes in this week's devastating Los Angeles area wildfires. A group from Denver is sending RVs to the region to help out with that need.
"It's pretty amazing to be able to help people like this," said Woody Faircloth, who founded the group EmergencyRV.
Helping people overcome the challenges of losing their home after natural disaster or wildfire is what first motivated the Denver resident and his daughter back in 2018, when they came up with the idea to gift an RV to a family who lost their home during the Camp Fire in Northern California.
"And (it) just kind of took on a life of its own," said Faircloth.
That first RV led to the creation of the nonprofit EmergencyRV, which has helped house more than 300 families in RVs after major natural disasters. Most recently, they helped provide 85 RVs to families following Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.
"We prioritize first responders, veterans, but we'll help any family who has lost their home in a situation like this as long as we have the (RVs) and resources to do it," said Faircloth.
The resources they are able to give are provided through monetary donations and RVs donated by people in the community to families for free.
"People can donate their RVs to us, we can give them a full appraised value as a tax deduction, and we gift that RV to the recipient on the other end and everybody wins," said Faircloth.
Faircloth took CBS Colorado through a look inside one of the RVs they plan to drive out to Southern California in the next week to give to someone who has lost their home to one of the ongoing wildfires.
"We contacted some local nonprofits that are out in California," he said. "We're flying out tomorrow to go meet with them, looking for places where we can set up our RVs so people can live in them."
From having a working kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, it's homes like these that could make the difference for families in California as they begin to start thinking about the rebuilding process.
"This is a tragic situation because a lot of folks out there didn't have fire insurance so it's going to be a long haul," said Faircloth.
Faircloth says they plan to fully stock these RVs with everything a person needs to live inside before he and volunteers drive out to California to deliver them.
"Probably 70% of the people we help end up donating them back to us to help other families," he said.
However, he is hopeful they will be able to help even more people through the help of Coloradans, one RV at a time.
"I know they're a few states away, but we want to help them and that's what we're going to do," said Faircloth.
EmergencyRV.org takes RVs that are in good, working condition, and anyone who is interested in helping out can fill out a form on their website. You can also fill out a form indicating whether you are in need of an RV for shelter.
