Please Help Okanogan County, Please Send Quilts!

Our fires are out of control, our firefighters are exhausted, the US Army is training soldiers how to fight fires to relieve our fire fighters and today we learned that hotshot teams from Australia and New Zealand are on their way to help us.

I live over five and a half hours away from the fires in Okanogan County, over 296 miles and this is what it looks like from my front porch just a few minutes ago.

No, my neighbor does not have a fire going in his yard

Smoke hanging in the trees and the hazy sky

 We need your help! The residents who live in these areas are being evacuated daily, they do not know if their homes are still standing or where they will go if they are not.  Their animals are displaced, they can't go to work and the fires rage on.

If you are reading this, if your skies are blue, if you are blessed to be in your home right now and if you can quilt, knit or crochet, I am begging you to help us get blankets to these families, to the exhausted hotshot teams and fire fighters....PLEASE HELP!!

The sun engulfed in smoke

The sun in a hazy sky

 I have only heard of things like this in my life time. My mom lived through it years ago when northern CA was on fire, they packed their RV drove it to a safer location, packed their old Mercury and then sealed their windows and doors and waited to be evacuated.
Lucky for them, the fires did not reach their town.

All around us are smaller fires, a family in Onalaska lost their entire chicken farm when it burnt to the ground this week. People are watering their lawns trying to keep them from going up just from lawn mower sparks.

Can you see the sun clearly? Are your skies blue? Can you breath in fresh air?  If you said yes, please, please consider sending quilts so I can get them up to these areas.

Know this about Okanogan County, it is the largest county land wise in our state, however, population wise, it is not. So these people losing homes, will not have an apartment to rent, a house to purchase, a friend to go to because there aren't any and sadly this is the second year in a row this county has been devastated.

Please, mail quilts, blankets to:
Layers of Hope - Quilting 911
18740 Ivan Street SW
Rochester, WA  98579

Yes, Red Cross is in the area, but I saw how Red Cross operates and FEMA in these areas when the Oso landslide hit last year. The swoop in, set up camp, help for a few days to a few weeks and are gone again to help the next disaster.

Your quilts will last forever and be a blessing to those who receive them!