While JiveRadio keeps the music pumping largely off of the generosity of you our dear listeners, from time to time we like to hip you to stories from our orbits that grab our hearts. This is the story of the Corona family of Talent, Oregon. The mom, Jocksana, was recently highlighted on PBS-TV’s “Brief But Spectacular” which is how we heard their story.
While there are thousands of sad stories from the 2020 wildfire season, The Almeda Fire was a particularly nasty piece of work in that it swept through miles of low-income, mostly Hispanic neighborhoods, right through the lowlands along the I-5 corridor between Ashland and Medford. These people are the backs that support every aspect of the rich lives of those in the highlands.
Jocksana, a Dreamer, has been a tireless community activist and supporter of myriad immigrant outreach organizations and now she has lost her home of 17 years, yet she continues to help those around her. 90 out of 100 homes in her ‘hood were destroyed in mere hours. Many hundreds of these people are now domestic refugees. Jocksana tells me the local school district Phoenix-Talent Schools Fire Relief Fund is doing a great job of getting support to the families with the most real needs.
While I had to almost pry it out of her, friends setup the Corona Family GoFundMe site. Even though at this writing it shows their ‘goal has been met’, there’s no one better to pass on her full cup than this brave woman. The need is tremendous. She and her family are a credit to our country.