Boys & Girls Clubs Create Fund For Guerneville Flood Victims

From BGC Sonoma County: Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County has created a relief fund to assist victims of the torrential floods in Guerneville. After the devastation felt in the community and in their club, Boys & Girls Club of Central Sonoma County, reached out to support the Guerneville School District with the infrastructure needed to execute a relief fund. The fund accepts gift cards and monetary donations by check or PayPal at bgccsc.org/flood.

The recent torrential flooding of the Russian River has left the community of Guerneville in devastation with many of its residents experiencing great loss and seeking shelter away from home. Dana Pedersen, Superintendent of the Guerneville School District reports, “Many of our families must now secure a place to live, food, and resources to replace damaged items and get back on their feet. Many of our students have lost their homes and are currently staying in motels, with friends and family, or in trailers as they look for housing and take care of repairs.”

Boys & Girls Club of Central Sonoma County was honored to be able to support. The Guerneville Boys & Girls Club is home to 150 Guerneville students who participate in over 150 programs annually to promote healthy lifestyles, good behavior and a good education. The club personally felt the impact of the floods on the vulnerable student population they serve and reached out to the Guerneville School District to support the community in need.

Chief Executive Officer, Jennifer Weiss, shared, “When any one of our Club members is in crisis, each of us is in crisis. I know how much it meant to my family to have so much support when we lost our home in the Tubbs fire. We want to be able to support our Club families in the same meaningful way.”

Dana Petersen noted that though the district is “diligently working to provide educational support and extra counseling services to help students through this loss” they “know our families are struggling to take care of their basic needs at this time.”

Basic needs like food, health and hygiene items, home goods are all needed, so in addition to monetary donations the district has asked for gift cards to large stores such as Home Depot, Safeway, Walmart, Target, or Costco to help purchase groceries, clothing, housewares, and supplies for necessary home repairs.

If you would like to donate to this cause, please send a gift card or mail a check to Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County, 1400 North Dutton Ave, Suite 24, Santa Rosa, CA, 95401. Please indicate “Guerneville School Flood Relief” on the check memo or donation correspondence. 100% of the fund will go to the Guerneville Community and its residents.

Boys & Girls Club of Central Sonoma County is a 501c3 nonprofit. Donations will be tax deductible. The fund is not able to accept physical donations of goods at this time.