KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Money to assist local fire victims.
Oscar Dominguez, from Union Bank of California presented a check for $20,000 to the SCV Disaster Coalition to help assist local fire victims. Disaster Coalition Board Member Carl Goldman and Santa Clarita Mayor Bob Kellar accepted the check live on KHTS AM-1220.
“These are my neighbors, these are the people I need to help out,” Dominquez said. Union Bank of California has its own foundation, which raises money for causes in local communities where its branches operate. Dominguez approached the foundation and asked for the funding to be transferred to the SCV Disaster Coalition.
The SCV Disaster Coalition was first established to help raise money and books for devastated towns following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. However, the Coalition was still intact following the SCV wildfires in late October. The multiple fires raged across Santa Clarita for days and claimed twenty two homes, with several other homes suffering damage.
The Disaster Coalition in unique in its structure, because it runs on services and resources from the City of Santa Clarita, Los Angeles County, Senior Center, College of the Canyons, Sheriff’s Department and LA County Fire Department. This allows the Coalition to operate with a $0 overhead. “It’s not very often that we find a charitable organization established in a manner where 100% of the funding goes specifically for an intended purpose,” said Mayor Bob Kellar.
Currently, twenty five families are receiving assistance from the Disaster Coalition, and each family gets a specific look into what they need. This is also a unique way of distributing assistance because it can be flexible, and therefore able to fill gaps in each family’s coverage.
