Response to the fires in Oregan

My story of hopefulness is what I witnessed in response to fires that came through our communities and devastated our region that resulted in 3,000 people being displaced. I put out a call on Facebook for people to join me in biking in water and supplies to the neighbouring town where access was shut off for vehicles. In that town disabled and elderly folk were stuck in homes without water, electricity and even news. Some of them didn't have any mobile phone or access to information from the outside world. Incredibly in the wake of these fires seven people joined me and we biked in water and supplies to this neighbourhood where we found individuals who were in real need and hadn't seen anyone for a couple of days. I put the call out for more people to join us the following day and remarkably over 100 people in my small town showed up with their bikes. We ended up going to 3000 homes and what was amazing was to see the way that people organised so organically, so willingly and have continued to volunteer with this bike brigade and volunteering initiatives since. After the fire was a commitment to build back better, because the people who were most affected were largely Latino families on the i-five corridor who were living in mobile home parks where the fire roared through. Many of these people couldn't get insurance because of US legislation around mobile home parks which inspired a committed group of people to come together to ensure that the future of the town is filled with these people owning their homes. Not only that, it was decided that the land be put into trust, so that we we stop the extractive behaviour that was happening before. As a result of the fires we actually emerged with a more equitable, just and sustainable outcome.