How to donate: Local Utahns rally to support southern California wildfire victims

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Local Utahns are mobilizing to support Southern California wildfire victims.
Thirst Drinks will donate 10% of Friday sales to the Red Cross.
Lifting Hands International is assembling emergency kits for displaced residents.

SALT LAKE CITY – In response to the devastating wildfires sweeping through Southern California, multiple local efforts in Utah are in motion to aid those affected.

Many Utah residents, including those with personal connections to California, feel spurred to action.

Ethan Cisneros, owner of Thirst Drinks, is one such individual.

"We're seeing how incredibly people's lives are actually being affected," Cisneros shared. With family ties in California, including grandparents residing there, he felt compelled to contribute.

Thirst Drinks' five locations will donate a portion of their Friday sales to the Red Cross. "We came up with 'Fight the Fires Friday.' We're doing 10% of all sales donated back to the Red Cross organization in California that are directly fighting the fires," Cisneros explained.

The American Red Cross' Central and Southern Utah region's Executive Director Benjamin Donner, emphasized the urgency of fundraising.

"Our biggest ask at the moment is fundraising to help support the efforts, because this is going to grow even more," Donner said.

While California-based volunteers are currently mobilized, Utah teams may also be called upon if needed, Donner said. He added there is a need for local blood donations.

"There is a very high probability that Southern California is going to ask, 'We need additional blood,' because all of their blood drives are canceled," Donner said.

In American Fork, Lifting Hands International volunteers are assembling emergency and hygiene kits out of their warehouse for displaced residents in Southern California.

"It's heartbreaking to see so many people displaced from the wildfires," Jessica Arch, development director with Lifting Hands International, expressed.

The organization is collecting essential items such as blankets, diapers, hygiene supplies, and N-95 masks.

Additional organizations offering aid* to wildfire victims:

United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Emergency Network Los Angeles
L.A. Works
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
California Fire Foundation
*GoFundMe has verified fundraisers for people affected by the wildfires.

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Garna Mejia

Garna Mejia is a reporter for KSL. Garna is happiest when she can be “out in the field” working on stories that matter to the community. She has always been curious about her surroundings and world events. A journalism class changed her life as she found her passion in connecting with people. Garna’s experience includes working as a bilingual reporter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the CBS/Telemundo Wisconsin affiliate, anchoring for NBC’s KYMA News 11 in Yuma, Arizona and sister stations Fox News 39 and Univision Laredo in southern Texas. Mejia’s introduction to the newsroom came through her zeal for data, research and information gathering on social media platforms. It was her knack for audience engagement that kick-started her career at CNN Latino Phoenix and later Telemundo Arizona where she designed and implemented successful social media campaigns. Garna’s unique name means “gladly” and “willingly” in Swedish. She was named after a dear family friend, Garna Randall. She enjoys spending her free time with friends and family, especially her five nieces and two nephews. If you have a story idea, you can always reach her at her email.