GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The Gridley Camp Fire Distribution Center has been a key resource for Camp Fire survivors since its inception shortly after the blaze tore through the ridge community last November. It has evolved in size, hours of operations and location, moving twice before finally finding a home in downtown Gridley on the southeast corner of Hazel and Kentucky streets.

As survivors have begun their various processes of recovery and healing, many area distributions centers and services geared towards aiding the survivors have closed down. This is not the case with the Gridley Camp Fire Distribution Center. In fact, its value is increasing and so is its patronage.

Always busy, it is not unusual to see a crowd of people waiting to gain entry to the distribution center before it opens on Tuesdays. Over the last three weeks, as the FEMA Village began licensing in residents, the center has seen an increase in new and familiar survivors coming for aid, supplies and resources. Lucy Love, one of the most fun-spirited and optimistic survivor-volunteers you could ever meet at the center says that “business has tripled” since the village opened.

Love has been volunteering at the center for over 3 months and is joined by other long-time survivor-volunteers, John Heinke and Sandra Graves. Each of their stories were different, but one thing was clear, they loved helping their fellows in need. Heinke drives from his new home in Paradise each week just to be of service. “I come because I enjoy helping people, and the joy I get out of it.” Heinke also acts as the center’s “muscle” helping unload and move the heavier items and help with security issues as needed. When we met, Graves was checking visitors in. Identification and proof of FEMA residence is required in order to partake of the center’s food, toiletries, clothing and household goods. She added, “We are all helping each other. It’s not just a hand-out, it’s a hand-up.”

The Distribution Center has grown into a unique entity, offering more than just physical resources. It provides the opportunity for survivors to help each other meet their needs, share their experiences and heal"•emotionally and spiritually. One can only imagine the sense of ease and comfort it brings for new visitors to the center to be greeted by fellow survivors. At this time, it is also functioning as the best way to get information about resources available to survivors and the FEMA Villagers.

Community groups and relief organizations, job-placement organization, schools and more have run into roadblocks, sometimes literal ones, when trying to get information to the residents at the FEMA Village and survivors that have made their home in the area. Security at the compound is tight, access to the residents there difficult. Other than Facebook communities, the Distribution Center is acting as a central hub for resources, services, and more for the FEMA Village. There is only one problem, not everyone at the FEMA Village can get to the Distribution Center.

The FEMA Village is in essence an island, cut off in a way from the heart of the relief effort underway in the Gridley area. Working with director of the Distribution Center, Lynne Spencer, the Gridley Relief Group, made up of delegates from local organizations, businesses, churches and FEMA representatives, is attempting to open better channels of communication to the residents at the FEMA Village. There is a desperate need to make information about resources and services more easily and directly available to them while respecting their privacy. It has presented a challenge, one that the Distribution Center has been pivotal in aiding with.

The Gridley Relief Group has recognized the value of the Distribution Center and is supporting its needs for continued operation as best as possible. The center is currently in need of an air conditioning system – the heat inside the building not only affects volunteers and visitors, but the produce and goods stored inside. The center hopes to extend hours of operation and open more days a week, but additional volunteers are needed. Transportation issues from the village to the center are being discussed in order for more survivor families to gain access to the resources available there.

The Distribution Center is currently open once a week, on Tuesdays from 10:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. For more information or to volunteer, contact Lynne Spencer at the Gridley Area Chamber of Commerce at (530) 846-3142.