SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KRON) - Today marks one year since the Glass Fire ripped through Napa and Sonoma counties and destroyed more than 1,500 homes, and damaged hundreds more.
The fire also ravaged local businesses and Santa Rosa's non-profit, 'The Pony Express,' which has been providing equine therapy to children for decades.
Unfortunately, a year later since that Glass Fire tore through this property it doesn't look that much different.
Still, a home, a hay barn, and storage equipment room for the horses missing. However, the owner says she's thankful to still have her horses and she's looking forward to rebuilding one step at a time.
“Overwhelmed, you know? It's a big loss and you have a choice. You can either focus on what you lost or you can focus of keep moving forward because there's a lot of purpose to what we do,” Linda Aldrich said.
On September 27, 2020, the fire rolled right over Linda Aldrich's Santa Rosa property, destroying the home she raised her family in, along with a hay barn, tack room, and other storage areas for her horses.
Thankfully, all 12 horses made it out alive that day and while they're back on the property, the non-profit they're a part of is still struggling to fully reopen.
“When they tell you it's a process. It's a process and it takes as long as it takes. It takes a lot of time and a lot of money and so our focus has really been, you know we lost over 3,000 feet of fence line, getting the fences up and getting the barns that were on the fence line that were shelter for the horses replaced and then also we lost all of our saddles and hay barns and equipment so really just try to focus on not so much the house. You know I have a trailer, I have a roof over my head but really trying to get it to the place where we can get our programs back up and running,” Aldrich said.
With her horses, the barns, and all of the equipment she once had, Aldrich runs a non-profit called The Pony Express, which provides life skills and equine therapy for children in the community.
“Our program, that's our flagship program, our equine assisted skills youth program that we've had for literally four decades, that program is currently closed so we're really working very hard. That is our number one goal. That was a program we always provided free,” Aldrich said.
So far, Aldrich has been able to bring back half of The Pony Express's programs but hopes to bring back all four in the near future.
Through all the destruction and rubble. She says it's the community that keeps her going.
“So grateful for the community that rallied around us and continues to rally around us, makes a difference, makes a difference,” Aldrich said.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3ujOhjq
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