In burn zone, kind impulse grows into a hub of generosity
REDDING — Kristy Hammeke was glued to her television when the Carr Fire pushed into Redding, turning thousands of residents into scared and disoriented evacuees.
Her house in Cottonwood, a two-minute drive south of Redding in Shasta County, was safe, but her heart ached for those who weren’t so lucky. She wanted to help.
“All these people were fleeing from their homes,” said Hammeke, 34. “We were just sitting at home feeling helpless.”
She wanted to do something, anything.
“I said to my husband, ‘We have a barbecue — let’s set up and cook burgers for people.’ ”
It was a small gesture, one that started Saturday with 30 packs of hot dogs and buns and a backyard grill on a street corner near Simpson University, where they put up signs advertising the free food and served up the franks.
On Sunday, they moved to the busy corner of Hilltop and Dana drives in Redding and watched in awe as random strangers started to help, dropping off additional barbecue grills. A meat company brought burgers. The local Wienerschnitzel reslarge taurant brought more hot dogs.
“I didn’t expect this at all,” said Hammeke’s husband, Daniel, 34. “I’m glad to help the community come together; it’s what we really need right now.”
On Monday afternoon, the scene resembled a combination of neighborhood barbecue and a yard sale, with the pop-up Good Samaritan site offering donated diapers, toiletries, toilet paper, foam coolers, clothing and other supplies — all for free.
A couple of young girls tried on shoes. A mom grabbed a hula hoop and some clothes for her young daughter. Donated doughnuts glistened in the sun.
A local radio station had put out the word, drawing hundreds of people seeking help, as well as donors.
Eugene Colbert, 90, stopped by the corner near the abandoned Sears store Monday afternoon, his wife and granddaughter with him. He was forced to evacuate Thursday and was still unable to return home.
“Redding will never be the same,” he said. “It will be better.”
At one point, they ran out of propane for the grills, but a quick phone call to the radio station and a public announcement prompted a propane company to stop by to fill the tanks, Hammeke said.
While Redding is a city of about 90,000, it looked a lot like a small town of close friends rather than strangers on the
corner of Hilltop and Dana.
“It started with couple hundred bucks, 30 packs of hot dogs and buns, and an ice chest — it’s escalated to this,” Hammeke said. “Some people just come up to you, put their arms around you and start crying.”
The Hammekes’ son Devon, 16, had been serving pancakes and sausage through the morning before switching to burgers for lunch, seemingly unaffected by high summer temperatures and thick smoke from the wildfire that still blotted out the sun.
“This just shows how strong our community is,” Devon said. “Every community should be like this — the love is thicker than the smoke.”