Long Beach residents team up to deliver supplies to San Bernardino mountain communities
Food, medicine, baby supplies and feminine care products were collected for people trapped in their homes.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- For the people living in mountain areas, frustrations are growing as days go by without help. Roads are left unplowed and people without power.
"It's just a reminder whenever I drive around and look up in the mountains of what's really going on there. Yes, it's beautiful, but people are trapped In their homes, don't have access to food, a lot of elderly people are relying on people to go door to door to do food drops right now," said Priya Sen, a Long Beach resident.
Sen said she couldn't sit back and watch what was happening.
She says she contacted Mountain Area Mutual Aid, a network of organizations assisting those in the San Bernardino mountain communities.
She got a list of supplies needed and put the word out into the Long Beach community.
Food, diapers, feminine care products and medicine started pouring in.
"Anything that I can do to help, I wanted to do that. I can't imagine being trapped out there with my own little kids and not having what I need or being up there with an elderly parent and not being able to get to them, or get medicine or just basic supplies," said Charlyn Bender, a Long Beach resident.
The supplies were dropped off at the San Bernardino International Airport with the help of another Long Beach local.
"I got a call from Priya and she said, 'Robb, we need to help these people out,' and I said 'Whatever I can do to assist, let me put out a post.' My followers came up with donations, monetary, and said, 'Hey Robb, can you come over and pick things up?' So, vie been last night into this morning going all over Long Beach picking up stuff for free," said Robb Smith, owner of Alley Cat Deliveries.
Alley Cat Deliveries is a delivery service in Long Beach that gives 20% of their sales back into the community.
Smith says the need in the San Bernardino Mountains pushed him to step in and help.
Sen says Mountain Area Mutual Aid is working with drop off groups like CalDART, a statewide network of local disaster airlift response teams, to deliver the supplies.
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