Waking up at 3:30 in the morning was hard. The cold air was biting our skin. It was tough to think that we had a whole day ahead, but we knew it would be worth it.
Last Friday, more than forty students and faculty came together to pack more than 2,000 backpacks with school supplies for Craig Floyd’s and Anthony Williams’ nonprofit, Restoring Education After Disasters.
They recruited junior Ben Manning, senior Will Ponczak, and myself to venture to Northern California to help with the distribution of the backpacks to victims of flooding.
On Saturday, we woke hours before the crack of dawn. I picked Ben up at 4:15, then we met at Mr. Williams’ house at 4:30. The stars were bright at that hour.
When we loaded the trailer, it was dark. It had been dark for a while and would be dark for a while more.
After hours on the road, we stopped for a quick breakfast. The sun still hadn’t risen.
We arrived in Planada hours later, where we set up a tent for families to come pickup backpacks. We could see a sense of relief on the faces of the parents when their kids excitedly picked up the backpacks. The Planada schools were reopening on Monday, so we had arrived just in time.
When we saw the damage that the flooding had caused as we were leaving Planada. We saw lines stretching for blocks for stands where community members could pick up free food and other essential items.
The rubble in the roads, the trees knocked over, the homes destroyed, it made what we were doing seem even more important.
We were off to Watsonville to drop the remainder of the backpacks.
We unloaded the trailer at the Pajaro Valley Unified School School district for family resources. Due to our efficiency, we were not there long and we were soon on the road back home.
After over 700 miles, countless bathroom stops, gas refills, backpacks distributed, we were finally back in Ojai.
Ben and I found ourselves in the exact same spot where we were 19 hours prior, standing in the cold, biting air underneath a dark sky of bright stars. It felt almost like a fever dream, the whole day was a blur, and we were back where we started.
In the morning we were groggy and tired, and at that moment we were exhausted from our day. A day in which we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those who have had it so hard.
However, we are nowhere near heroes. We did our best to help out, but the real heroes are those who are in the community every day helping their neighbors; the people who are coordinating the relief efforts, the people who run the stands to give out free essential items, the people who are cleaning up the roads and helping rebuild the homes, those are the real heroes.
I found the beauty in what we did wasn’t what we actually did, but how the community came together to make it happen. We saw people from all different backgrounds wanted to do their part just simply to help those in need.
