By KRISTI MAYFIELD

After being moved to help victims of the devastating wildfires in Southern California, local resident Christina Barreto was even more moved by the outpouring of support seen from the local community and beyond.

Over the past week-plus, the donations have poured in from all over the Central Valley and even as far as Watsonville. Barreto said that the response has been astounding and yet it is a reminder of how at our core, people are good and want to help others, especially those that are suffering. Barreto said that she was even contacted by a family that had been touched by challenging circumstances a few years back and received donations from the community and now wanted to pay it forward themselves and donate to the families impacted by the fires.

The goal was to fill one trailer with necessities such as non-perishable foods, baby formula, diapers, clothing, pet supplies and they have more than surpassed that goal. As the donations continued to come in including full pallets of water, bags upon bags of clothing, cases of diapers and so much more, they began loading the items into the trailer and to their delight, they filled an entire trailer and still had many donations left to load. As a result of this, Barreto’s brother-in-law, Juan Torres, owner of Juan M. Torres Trucking, Inc. will be heading down this week to deliver the first trailer full of supplies and will be making a second trip next week to take the remaining supplies.

For those that still want to donate, the family will continue to collect donations until Saturday, Jan. 25. Items that are needed include: water, non-perishable/canned foods, clothing including socks and underwear, towels, washrags, blankets, hygiene items, sanitary products, diapers, baby wipes, activities such as board games, coloring books, etc. for children and pet food. For more information or to donate, contact Barreto at 209-499-4160.