November 8, 2018 the “Camp Fire” started in Butte County. Word quickly spread of its massive size and the evacuation of entire communities began. A day later we learned that many of Southern California members were also on evacuation alert as the fires in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties be- came infernos. The CBA sprang into action.
We did not want to duplicate the massive relief efforts of experienced agencies but knew that we must offer something tangible to our members who reportedly were losing everything and fleeing only with their lives. Our charter and 501c3 status delineates our mission as a blue- grass music specific organization and pointed us in the direction of the instrument replacement effort we chose to take. Ted Kuster launched a GoFundMe account within hours of our decision. The Board of Directors at the November meeting ratified the CBA GoFundMe effort and the real work began. Our goal is to raise $50K.
CBA sponsored jams from many areas of the State rallied to raise money for the Fire Relief Fund in November. CBA member Dan Stein and his band the Grasskickers immediately organized the Fresno Fire Relief Jam in Fresno and raised $3800. The jams that followed in the fund- raising effort were the Winters Tavern Jam in Pacifica, the Taco Jam at the Baja Tacqueria in Oak- land and the Lucky Horseshoe Jam in San Francisco. San Francisco based band Windy Hill donated their pay after a concert and jam held at Amnesia in San Francisco. The Handsome La- dies jumped on the bandwagon and took up a collection at their Third Monday Handsome La- dies Jam at Amnesia. Los Gatos contributed from the jam held at the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Co with waitresses and the own- er of the venue also contributing. More donations came in from the Ale Company Bluegrass Pick in Oakland. We love this spontaneous outpouring of generosity from our regions.
Marin County Area VP Bruce Sadownick immediately planned a house concert for November 25th in San Rafael featuring Rainy Eyes and Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands. Both bands donated their talents to support the Fire Relief Fund. Close to $3000 was raised. Laurie Lewis also donated sales of her merchandise. Laurie can always be counted on to give back to this community.
The real work now is locating our members. Our data base is based on street address- es (gone) and mostly landlines (out of service). We are missing many email addresses. We sent an email to all members/former members in the fire area whose emails we had listed and grate- fully received some responses. We have sent a mailing of Bluegrass Breakdowns and will learn from our “return mail.” We have people on the ground in the area sending us some information about the whereabouts of our members but that information is not nearly enough. People scattered when they evacuated and we really need help finding our CBA family. We established an email firerelief@californiablue- grass.net specifically for information about our members. The CBA reactivated and extended the memberships of all members in the fire zones of Butte and Ventura Counties to make them eligible for instrument replacement assistance.
We are planning now how to distribute the funds working with both our Insurance Agent and Attorney. We are reaching out to instrument companies and distributors for discounted prices. We are not capable of receiving donated instruments directly and ask that any offers of donated instruments be listed directly on the Message Board of www.cbaweb.org.
I have always maintained that the CBA endures because we are a community. We met because of the music and endure because we have come to care deeply for one another. Please help us find our community members.
