Dixie Fire Fund Distributes Final Award While Community Rebuilding Continues
By February 2, 2023 Community banking
The Dixie Fire remains one of California’s single largest wildfires in its history. It destroyed homes and buildings when it charged across almost a million acres of land in 2021. What it didn’t destroy: resilient communities that are in the process of recovery. Over the last year and a half, incredible work has been done to clear the damage, plan for rebuilding where possible and work to bring devastated communities together.
$250,000 raised for Dixie Fire Recovery
When the town of Greenville and its surrounding communities were destroyed by the Dixie Fire, Plumas Bank focused on helping team members and clients — our friends and neighbors — to evacuate to shelter and safety. We reassured the local community that their monies, safe deposit boxes and bank accounts were accessible. We also worked with clients to eliminate fees, service charges and provide deferments as they navigated the tragedy. All five counties impacted by the Dixie Fire — Plumas, Butte, Lassen, Tehama and Shasta — are communities in which Plumas Bank provides banking services, making the recovery effort deeply personal.
Additionally, Plumas Bank quickly reached out to the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada (CFNN) to establish the Dixie Fire Fund. Created as a meaningful way to help our clients and communities with funding, we recognized the difficult reality that once the world turns its attention to other news of the moment, a primary need in our region would be support for long-term recovery.
“It’s very near and dear to our hearts. This is something that impacted so many people,” BJ North, executive vice president and chief banking officer, told the Independent Banker. “Plumas Bank was born in the rural community. They built this bank.”
The Dixie Fire Fund raised just over a quarter of a million dollars. Plumas Bank made the single largest donation to the fund with a $50,000 contribution. We secured another $25,000 in matching funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. CFNN’s large network of donors drew in thousands of dollars from across the nation.
Plumas Bank launched an ad campaign to generate visibility of the Dixie Fire Fund in neighboring communities, including in nearby Northern Nevada.
The goal of the Dixie Fire Fund was to provide emergency hardship support and aid in the long-term recovery of the communities impacted by the fire. CFNN organized an advisory council to oversee the fund’s distribution to Dixie Fire affected communities, and, over the course of the last year and a half, the monies were distributed to 15 recovery initiatives led by local 501c3 non-profit organizations. The final disbursement of the fund was released in December 2022.
See the non-profit organizations and recovery efforts that received awards from the Dixie Fire Fund, totaling nearly $250,000.
Together, We're Better
For the last 15 months, Plumas Bank and CFNN joined forces with the Dixie Fire Funders Roundtable to strengthen the impact of the dollars awarded to these local communities. This roundtable of funders includes community foundations, disaster relief organizations and others who are distributing more than a million dollars in funding to help Dixie Fire affected areas.
Dixie Fire Impact Report
Plumas Bank and CFNN joined the Dixie Fire Funders Roundtable to combine dollars awarded to communities impacted by the Dixie Fire. Read about the collaborative efforts to shape the recovery in Plumas County.
“The Dixie Fire Funders Roundtable has been vital toward meeting the current, really immediate needs of the community,” said Tyler Pew, whose family owns a fourth-generation logging and milling operation in Indian Valley — one of the many areas impacted by the fire. “But not only that, because of the roundtable, we’re also able to put early capital toward visioning work, to be able to move in a targeted and strategic way in creating strong projects. And I think that early capital is one of the determining factors in how fast we’re moving and how successful we can be.”
In July 2022, Plumas Bank reopened its Greenville office as a community meeting space. It’s currently being used by the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce, Indian Valley Innovation Hub, Greenville Rotary, Greenville Thrift Shop, the Veterans Hall and other community wellness groups.
Plumas Bank’s on the ground support of the rebuilding and revitalization of the area continues, and we remain committed to the communities that built Plumas Bank.
Dixie Fire Fund Grants Awarded
|
Almanor Basin Food Pantry |
To purchase generators for the food pantry. |
$1,000 | Learn more on their Facebook page. |
| Communities United for Children and Families |
The award provides operating support for the Westwood Family Resource Center. |
$25,000 | Learn more at the Westwood Family Resource Center’s website. |
|
Greenville Rancheria Fire Department |
To purchase a large vehicle to transport the Rancheria’s fire crew members, their equipment and supplies. | $20,000 |
Learn more at grth.org/about |
| Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce | To provide support for disaster relief assistance for website development. | $600 | Learn more at indianvalleychamber.com |
| Lake Almanor Area Chamber of Commerce | For the Lake Almanor Chamber of Commerce Fall Tourism and Dixie Fire Relief video to increase tourism to the area. | $5,000 | Learn more at Discover Plumas County. |
| Additional direct donation from Plumas Bank to support advertising of the video. | $5,000 | ||
| Lost Sierra Food Project | For procurement of energy-independent cold storage. | $25,000 | Learn more at lostsierrafoodproject.org. |
| Maidu Summit Consortium | To hire an emergency response coordinator to support fire victim assistance. | $10,000 | Learn more at maidusummit.org. |
| Plumas Strong | To renovate and winterize Copper Creek Camp for workforce housing volunteers, defensible space for future disasters and bringing tourists to the area. | $25,000 | Learn more at Dixie Fire Impact Report |
| For the Greenville wildfire recovery planning process, helping facilitate collaboration, the progress of damage assessment and eventual rebuilding. | $10,000 | Learn more at Dixie Fire Impact Report | |
| Plumas Rural Services | Immediate financial relief into the hands of those who lost their homes to the Dixie Fire by providing gift cards. | $10,000 | Learn more at Dixie Fire Impact Report |
| Plumas Rural Services | Immediate relief for simple unmet needs for Dixie Fire survivors. | $15,000 | Learn more at Dixie Fire Impact Report |
| Plumas Rural Services | To be distributed to non-profit organizations with unmet needs through the Dixie Fire Funders Roundtable. | $28,100 | Learn more at Dixie Fire Impact Report |
| Plumas Rural Services | To provide gap funding to PRS for services to Dixie Fire survivors until a new grant takes effect. | $5,000 | Learn more at Dixie Fire Impact Report
|
| Sierra Institute for Community and Environment | To support the pop-up business district to serve residents and construction workers in Greenville through the rebuilding process. | $49,380 | Learn more at sierrainstitute.us |
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