California post collects donations for Maui wildfire relief

In the aftermath of the deadly wildfires in Maui in early August, members of the American Legion Family at Post 716 in Los Alamitos, Calif., set out to help.

“As it stands now, we are sitting on quite a bit of donated items,” said Post 716 Commander James Eubanks. “This is primarily due to the American Red Cross asking shippers to hold on any further shipments.”

Supply donations had been put on hold as the infrastructure necessary to process and receive donations had to be restored.

The post’s callout for supplies brought in donations from across the community and from other Legion posts in California, Eubanks said. It started with a member of Squadron 716, Tom Petrillo, contacting the commander of Post 8 in Maui to see what help was needed, Eubanks said.

From there, Squadron Commander Steve Working asked Eubanks to put out the call for donations via the post’s website and Facebook page.

“Once the word went out, the donations began to flood in,” Eubanks said — so much so that donations filled the post building and spilled over into their social quarters.

Working was able to get some of the items transported to Maui and the post obtained a container to store the other items until shipping resumes.

“The shipping firms and other nonprofits have been great about reaching out and keeping me posted on the status and have promised that we are on the top of their list,” said Eubanks, who also expressed his gratitude for those who donated to the relief efforts.