Lakeport >> For the Thornton’s, volunteering is a family affair.
In the nearly three months since the Valley Fire, Lori Thornton, her husband Gene Thornton, their daughter-in-law Sharon Thornton and one-and-a-half-year-old Parker Thornton, haven’t taken a day off from collecting and distributing goods for fire victims.
It began with the Lion’s Club in Kelseyville. The Thornton’s were volunteering there when the club decided they needed to close their doors as a distribution center. With hundreds of items still on hand and many victims without homes, Lori Thornton knew she needed to do something. “I immediately realized there wasn’t going to be a place for these donations to go,” Thornton recalled.
She and her family quickly took action, looking at any option to house donations. They talked with the owner of Work Right in Lakeport, who donated his 4,000 square foot space so the Thorntons could set up a distribution center. The warehouse has since been filled with thousands of items, everything from clothing to toiletries to linens. Hundreds of boxes crowd the floors, piled one on top of another to make room for new donations, which haven’t even begun to slow.
Lori Thornton explained that the center houses the surplus of donations coming into the county, most of which can’t go directly to churches and organizations. Those places just don’t have the space. The Thornton family and the other volunteers currently helping at the warehouse sift through the items, sorting them into piles. Then they load their cars trunks and truck beds with toothpaste, shampoo, pet supplies, and whatever else they can fit, and head out to Konocti Harbor in Kelseyville, the Little Red Schoolhouse in Cobb, Hidden Valley Lake’s Bible Church and the Clearlake First Baptist Church, among other locations.
“We’re trying really hard to make sure all the other distribution centers have their needs met,” Lori Thornton said. “We’ve all been working as a team with all of the distribution centers.”
The Work Right warehouse also acts as a place for fire victims to physically come in and pick out whatever items they need. All they have to bring with them is proof they lived at a burnt out address. For large items such as furniture, people place a tag on the one they want and they have a week to come back and pick it up.
“My goal for this whole thing was that we help people get what they need and get back on their feet and I knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight ,” Lori Thornton said.
At this point in the process, what both the Work Right warehouse and fire victims need is furniture, she explained. People are beginning to find new homes and trying to get their lives going again after losing everything. As such, furniture comes into the center as fast as it goes out. They’ve placed a call on their Facebook page for more chairs, couches, dining tables and other items.
The need for furniture aside, the response has been overwhelming. They have so much clothing they almost don’t know what to do with it all. The Thornton’s have received 32 RVs for those who lost their homes. People drive all day and night just to bring donations into the county. The Colusa Farm Bureau drove over a trailer filled with goods the distribution center had asked for on their Facebook page. A woman from Australia shipped an entire crate’s worth of boxes to the center.
“We’ve had such an outpouring of support, you wouldn’t believe,” Lori Thornton said. “People want to help people get on their feet, but they don’t know how and this is giving them a way to do that.”
Running the distribution center is more than a full-time job. Lori Thornton estimates she puts in 12 hours each day, and her family members contribute similar hours. It’s an impressive feat, considering Gene Thornton works full-time for Calpine and Sharon Thornton is six months pregnant.
“I am exhausted,” Lori Thornton said. “There’s days when I’m like, ‘I’m not moving today,’” But even on those mornings, she never seems to get her much-needed rest. Over the Thanksgiving weekend, four truckloads of donations came in from out of county, and she couldn’t turn them away. So she went down the warehouse and opened their doors yet again.
When Lori Thornton isn’t at the center, her phone is constantly ringing. She said she’s likely going to need to change her number once she’s finished at the warehouse. “It doesn’t stop,” she added. “It’s one of those things, we are just down here trying to do the best we can.”
Though Lori Thornton, her husband and her daughter-in-law run the warehouse, they aren’t without help. There are 13 AmeriCorps volunteers and people from the Mormon Church always on hand. Other members of Thornton’s family — her sons Patrick Thornton and Ellis Thornton, her other daughter-in-law Haley Thornton, plus two granddaughters — make donation runs and assist fire victims. Little Parker Thornton loves to move around crates, and he’s so eager to help that he learned how to turn on the forklift. The family keeps a careful eye on him, and always leaves the machine in park.
Then there’s Joey Brodnik, now an unofficial member of the Thornton family. Brodnik is a retired UPS driver whose last route was through the Cobb area and he’s put in countless hours at the warehouse. “He’s here with us full-time, too,” Lori Thornton said. “He’s really not retired anymore.”
She added praise for Allen’s Furniture in Lakeport, who have been collecting donations on their own time and their own dollar. They drop off load after load of items without asking for anything in return.
And the Work Right Warehouse is run entirely by volunteers, with no one receiving payment for their hours contributed. “I don’t want the county to have to spend any more money,” Lori Thornton said. “I want them to be able to help fire victims.”
Like many Lake County citizens, the Thornton’s know a number of people who were affected by the Valley Fire. In their church, 13 people lost their homes. Five people in Gene Thornton’s Calpine crew alone were burnt out. All The family is trying to do is assist these and countless others find their footing again. “I don’t want any reward,” Lori Thornton said. “We’re not here for recognition. We’re here to help everybody we can possibly help and make their load lighter.”
The Work Right warehouse distribution center open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s located at 4615 Work Right Cir. in Lakeport.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
