Source:  Cal Coast Credit Union

August 30, 2018 (San Diego) - California Coast Credit Union and San Diego Zoo Global have partnered on a promotion thanking area firefighters with free admission to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  Firefighters and up to three guests will receive free one-day admission during the month of September.

By Miriam Raftery

August 19, 2018 (Alpine) – “Your life can change at the drop of dime,” Lisa Ford told a standing-room only crowd of more than 400 people packed the Alpine Community Center last night for a fundraiser to help survivors of the West Fire.

By Miriam Raftery

August 5, 2018 (Lakeside) – Deb Carney Carlson is an administrator for the Brush Fire Partyline, donating her time to post fire alerts to keep others safe. Now her daughter, Tara, is fighting for her life – and needs help from the public.

East County News Service

July 18, 2018 (Alpine) - A dinner and auction to benefit survivors of the West Fire in Alpine will be held on Saturday, August 18^th from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Alpine Community Center.

The Alpine Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce and Alpine Community Center are organizing the fundraiser. All funds raised will be donated to the Alpine Community Foundation to help and support those affected by the West Fire, which destroyed 34 homes and also destroyed many outbuildings, damaging other properties.

For tickets, visit http://www.AlpineChamber.com.

See details below:

By Miriam Raftery

July 14, 2018 (Alpine) – Many of our readers have been asking how to help people who lost homes in the West Fire in Alpine earlier this month.  Several organizations are helping out and GoFundMe pages have also been set up for some of the families.

Alpine Christian Fellowship has established a West Fire relief fund that is accepting financial donations.  You can also sign up to volunteer to help with debris clean up, supply distribution, food and water, pet care, child care, spiritual care, or transportation.

A Fire Victim Supply Post has been set up at Boulder Oaks Elementary (2320 Tavern Rd., Alpine) where you can donate and drop off supplies to help fire survivors such as clothing, clean-up supplies, non-perishable food items and household goods.  For more info please call or text Margo at 619-876-8713 or Stephanie at 619-573-5638.

Keller Williams Realty has started a fund to help West Fire survivors and is also accepting donations of immediate relief supplies at three locations in Alpine and El Cajon. Details are at their GoFundMe link.

Below are other  GoFundMe sites set up to help specific individuals and families who lost homes in the West Fire. While some have already raised tens of thousands of dollars, other have nearly no donations. Please help our neighbors in need.

Human rights leader is an organizer of hate crimes forum July 17 in El Cajon

By Mimi Pollack

July 14, 2018 (El Cajon) -- As the executive director of CSA-Center for Social Advocates, Estela de los Rios cares about the well-being of the community. She also has a strong sense of justice, which she developed at an early age. As a human rights activist, she strives to make the world a better place and doesn’t want others to feel the pain of discrimination, something she herself has faced in her life.

CSA is a place where people can come and voice their concerns. It is made up of six agencies that provide community services to East County, including fair housing, immigrant and refugee rights, civic engagement, hate crimes, and human trafficking. It is a place that in her words, “embraces newcomers and community.”

By Miriam Raftery

July 6, 2018 (El Cajon) -- Food donations are urgently needed at the Salvation Army in El Cajon, where supplies are at a “critical low point” after an annual holiday food drive fell far short.

Donations of canned, boxed or other nonperishable food items can be dropped off at the Salvation Army facility at 1011 East Main Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, the organization states on Facebook. For details, call (619) 440-4683. Financial donations are also welcome.

If the supplies are not promptly replenished within 30 days, the nonprofit will be forced to use funds to buy food items to feed the hungry, reducing money available for other important needs, an agency spokesperson has stated, NBC 7 reported.

By José A. Álvarez, County of San Diego Communications Office

June 20, 2018 (Lakeside) - She survived them all. Violence. Cancer. Homelessness.

April found freedom after finally leaving her abusive and drug-addicted partner.

The 46-year-old is cancer free after going through rigorous chemotherapy sessions and multiple surgeries.

And thanks to the County’s rental assistance program, April and her three children now have a permanent place to live.

By Miriam Raftery

June 9, 2018 (El Cajon) – You’re invited to a magical evening of festivity and excitement at a masquerade ball titled “A Night To Remember.”

This black tie formal affair—masks mandatory—will be held on Friday, September 28 from 7 p.m. to midnight at the Crystal Ballroom (414 Magnolia Ave., El Cajon). 

By Miriam Raftery

June 5, 2018 (La Mesa) – It’s not every charity dinner that starts off with  cruise director Sue Nami (played by Janette Mills) welcome you aboard a 1949 cruise ship--or with a wine bottled labeled “rat poison” as the centerpiece.  Not to mention a billionaire bikini designer turning up dead – with a boatload of suspects and the entire audience helping to solve the crime.

That was the scenario at “Boats, Bodies and Betrayal,” a murder mystery dinner theatre produced by Kiwanis Club of La Mesa and Kiwanis Youth Development and Support Club of San Diego (KYDS) last Sunday evening at the La Mesa Community Center.

East County News Service

June 3, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – El Cajon resident Kristin Cohn, who attended Valhalla High School, was recently crowned Mrs. San Diego Woman of Achievement 2018. Her platform is titled One Nation one heart. A few months ago, she had noticed a video that was circulating via the Internet and showed a little boy that was very sad when his deployed father was not going to be able to make it home for his birthday. This really hit a nerve in Cohn as she realized that not only does the stress of a deployed parent affect the member of the military and the spouse but also the amount of stress it places on the children left at home.

Also offering referral fees and hiring local representatives

By Deann Rios

May 22, 2018 (San Diego) -- International Education Student Exchange Program (INTER-ED) is committed to making the world a better place by offering opportunities to break down cultural barriers and bring our world closer together. This non-profit, in association with the United States Department of State, is seeking volunteer hosts to help them achieve this goal by serving as American ambassadors.

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

On Friday, May 4, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. a fundraiser at the San Diego Firehouse Museum will offer an opportunity to see the museum and to raise money for cancer patients Glenn Stewart and Paula Hamma. The Heartland Firefighters Foundation is holding a fundraiser at the museum to help these family members of the men and women who fight our wildfires and other fires in East County.

The museum, founded in 1962 and located in San Diego’s Little Italy, houses steel from the World Trade Center, firefighting equipment from the late 1800s, La Jolla’s first fire engine and more. Besides seeing the museum, the taco plates ($10) and beer ($5) offered will be a great way to contribute to monies to help Stewart and Hamma. There is no entry fee.

East County News Service

May 1, 2018 (San Diego) – A New Orleans Casino Night fundraiser on May 18th will benefit La Maestra Community Health Centers’ programs for victims of human trafficking. The programs are offered countywide including at East County locations.

Article and photos by Robert Gehr © 2018

April 23, 2018 (El Cajon) -- The Letitia Coxe Shelby Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) chapter in La Mesa held a dedication ceremony for a Knox House Museum historic marker on Saturday at the Olaf Wieghorst Museum and Art Gallery in the heart of downtown El Cajon.