Gomes has truck at the ready
Jonny Gomes is often called “the Pride of Petaluma,” and starting this weekend, the town will have even more reason to be proud of the former A’s outfielder.
Gomes, 36, is shipping his 2½-ton M35 military truck to his hometown, and he told The Chronicle that he’ll be driving it around to help move burnedout vehicles and clear roadways in the wake of the Wine Country fires. He’s also planning to help keep watch for looters in evacuated neighborhoods.
“It’s pretty simple,” Gomes said by phone from his home in Arizona. “I’ve never had anything hit so close to home. We donate to cancer research, to support the troops, all sorts of causes, but when 1,000 people in your life are affected by one thing, it really hits you. I’ve got buddies who left their houses at 4 a.m. and realized that what they had in their pockets and in their car was 100 percent all they had left, and their homes were vaporized. It’s crazy, man, just brutal.”
Gomes’ older brother, Joey, was evacuated from his Santa Rosa home early Monday and he and his family have not been allowed to return. “Their place might be there, and it might not be,” Jonny Gomes said.
Gomes, who attended Casa Grande High and Santa Rosa Junior College, has started a GoFundMe.com page to raise funds to help victims of the fires at www.gofundme.com/ 707Relief.
“There’s no overhead and the money will 100 percent be going to people in need,” Gomes said. “And I’ll be there to see how I can help. I’ve heard there are 5,000 cars that need to get hauled out and there aren’t enough tow trucks because so many of them burned. I’m what I like to call ‘fake retired,’ so I can go do that and then get a cooler and sit in a neighborhood to make sure nothing gets looted. I’m going to put my energy wherever it’s most needed.”
— Susan Slusser Teams unite to make donation: The Bay Area’s seven major professional sports teams announced Wednesday that they have joined forces to donate $450,000 to support Wine Country fire relief efforts.
In a joint statement, the 49ers, Raiders, Giants, A’s, Warriors, Sharks and Earthquakes also urged their fans to join in the cause by contributing at youcaring.com/firerelief.
In addition, they noted that fans can donate $10 to American Red Cross disaster relief by texting REDCROSS to 90999.
The ongoing blazes in more than a half-dozen North Bay counties have killed at least 23 people, destroyed more than 3,500 buildings, and burned 170,000 acres. There is little to no containment thus far on the fires.