My mom and I had to evacuate last Friday night as we could see flames coming down the mountain just the end of our street (about 8-10 blocks away) on the other side of Foothill Road –police came through our neighborhood warning people to leave. Our neigbors lent us their son’s truck so we were able to leave with our valuables and favorite things…others were not so fortunate…I saw some people filling up shopping carts and pushing them away from the apartment complex. Others had just small cars in which to load their possessions…many left with only the clothes on their backs…the San Marcos High school shelter quickly overflowed –then the University offered shelter for the many of the 15,000 that were evacuated! Imagine, that many people having to flee the fire! We were lucky to be able to say in the condo my daughter manages located in the heart of Santa Barbara…from their we could see hundred foot flames leap up from the canyons behind us. We were able to go home on Saturday afternoon–we move our things back on Sunday…but, it makes you appreciate having a home, no matter how small (I share a one bedroom apartment with my mother)–a place to rest your head, a place to put your stuff, a place where you can feel safe, and be sheltered against the elements–in other words–a place you can call your own. It seems that it sometimes takes a disaster to realize there is nothing worse than having no place to call home-if even for a short while–I can just imagine the the hurt and hardship of never having a place to call home!

If you have a place that is too large for you–please try to think of homeless people the same way as those whose homes have burned down…they need shelter too!