Hope Center serves as hub for Park Fire donations

OROVILLE – The Oroville Hope Center is serving as the  hub for donations for Park Fire victims.

The center, located at 2620 South Fifth Ave., opened for donations on Saturday. It will be open again and accepting donations for the duration of the fire from 9 a.m. to noon on days when temperature reach triple digits and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on cooler days Tuesdays through Fridays.

“We believe in supporting our community through whatever is going on through good times, tough times and everything in between,” said Josh Jamison, Hope Center executive director.

Beth Parmentier, left, gets some assistance from Mary Terry, Oroville Hope Center guest services manager, bringing bottled water and pet food donations from her car into the Hope Center, which is serving as a donation hub for Park Fire victim relief Saturday, July 27, 2024 in Oroville, California (Kyra Gottesman/Mercury-Register)

Donations of shelf-stable food, snacks, bottled water, hygiene items for men and women, gas cards and cat and dog food are being accepted. People are asked not to bring clothing, household items, books, kitchen items, toys or any other items not on the donations list.

“The items we’re collecting are the most urgently needed by the victims now, in the short term,” said Mary Terry, Hope Center guest services manager.

While the Hope Center is serving as the location for Park Fire donations intake it is working in partnership with other member agencies of Butte-Glenn Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, a non-profit that brings together organizations active in disaster response and recovery, to distribute the donations both directly to fire victims as well as to local agencies that are providing services to these victims.

“All of us, the agencies involved with Butte-Glenn VOAD, are working and will continue working together to identify and meet the needs of those effected by the Park Fire,” said Jamison. “Donated items will be taken to the evacuation centers and we will be further identifying other community distribution points. Fire victims may also come to us at the Hope Center to receive donations directly.”

‘So grateful’

Within minutes of the center opening on Saturday people were arriving with cases of water, pet food, cash and other donations.

Beth Parmentier, an Oroville resident who lives on Forbestown Road and has been evacuated “several times,” saw a Facebook post Friday night about the donation collection and said, “I just knew I had to come down the hill this morning and bring what I could.”

“It hurts me to think of all these people who are evacuated, worried and afraid,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “It just really upsets me. I hope what I brought helps someone.”

Patsy Hindman and her grandson, Bryceson Hindman, were also among the first to arrive at the center Saturday morning with a trunk full of water and pet food. An Oroville native, Hindman said she knows how devastating wildfires can be and just wanted to help because “I just love people.”

Terry, who was hustling Saturday morning to help people unload donations from their cars and filling grocery carts with American Red Cross meal kits in preparation for distribution to Park Fire victims, said, “Every little bit, every donation we get whether it’s one case of water or a pallet or one gas card or a dozen will make a difference for fire victims and we are so grateful.”

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Organizations represented in Butte-Glenn VOAD include American Red Cross, Butte County Department of Employment and Social Services, Butte County Office of Emergency Management, Butte-Glenn 211, Camp Fire Collaborative, Community Action Agency of Butte County, Chico State, Neighborhood Church Chico Disaster Relief and Recovery, North Valley Animal Disaster Group, North Valley Community Foundation, United Way of Northern California and the Hope Center among others.

To make arrangements for large donations or to make arrangements for after-hours donations, contact Terry directly via email at [email protected] or call the center at 530-538-8398.