Located near the opening of the Sequoia National Forest, Springville is almost directly in between the KNP Complex fires (76,768 acres, 11% contained, north of Springville), Walkers Fire (8,777 acres, west of Springville) and the Windy Fire (97,014 acres, south of Springville). This small town has had too many evacuation notices to count in the last 5 years and every time the beautiful area recovers to being any color other than black…another fire starts.
The chapter’s volunteers were determined not to go another year without seeing the children in their community, so they planned a one day Camp experience. A total of 16 children and 71 volunteers came that day. Not only did the children have a wonderful time doing something fun in their gloomy environment, but the volunteers felt rejuvenated after seeing the joy on the children’s’ faces.
“We are delivering gifts to the 13 kiddos who were not able to make it due to either COVID or fire/smoke precautions. Tulare County Child Welfare Services was unable to transport the children due to their vehicles being used for fire assistance, so our volunteers stepped up to help with transportation as well. We were so honored to have a total of 5 children from the Tule River Tribe of California and we will be delivering 10 more gifts to those children on the reservation very soon.” – Kate Smith, FTC Lighthouse Chapter Director
Kate has been working on building a relationship with the Tule River Tribe for over a year now and this year and has been asked to not only speak yearly at their Tule River Tribe Child Welfare Services meeting but also present FTC programming at their Tribal Council Meetings.
