SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The home court for the Lincoln High School Hornets is in between homes for those like Laura Villegas and Dylan Slade after Monday’s storm.
“It was just an unbelievable amount of water and all of the trash floating inside. It’s unrealistic to see all of your clothes and all your belongings floating by you when you’re walking in your house,” Slade said.
Since Monday, the American Red Cross has turned the court into a place for those young and old the storm has left stranded: an emergency shelter.
“...I was here when the shelter was first opening, and we’ve had a steady stream of people coming in from the local area here, whose homes have been completely devastated," Andrea Fuller, an American Red Cross Southern California volunteer, said. "They have nothing left. I’ve talk to some of the folks that literally the water was three feet deep, and they got out with just what they were wearing.”
Volunteers from the Red Cross helped provide comfort with that place to stay. Recently, the Red Cross has seen around 57 people, according to Fuller.
“It gives, definitely makes us feel safe to be somewhere, you know, we’re not surrounded by water and mold. Like our beds were entirely wet. So we’re just happy to have a roof over our heads,” Fuller said.
It all comes with a warm blanket, food, medical services and more, provided by the Red Cross for many who have lost more than they could fathom.
“When you go back to the apartment trying to clean the streets, trying to shovel the mud out, it just kind of brings you back down. Like all of my stuff, I can’t go back in there the mold, the smells, and then you come back here a sigh of relief,” Villegas said.
Happiness was brought by all of these resources and help from the non-profit, along with that vital brief moment to breathe and a heartfelt hug.
It can possibly help make the hardest of times easier to bear.
“These kinds of things don’t happen that much, and when it does, everyone comes together. It changes how you view the world a little bit, you know? Gives you a lot more hope for everything again,” Slade said.
For more information about how the American Red Cross relief efforts locally, click here.
