Stanislaus County caterer brings community together to aid L.A. fire victims
OAKDALE — Zachary Fisher, a caterer based in the Central California city of Oakdale, planned on going to Southern California to cook for wildfire victims.
When he took to social media to share his plans, that's when community members banded together to gather hundreds of donations for Fisher to bring to Southern California.
"I wasn't expecting it. I posted on the Stanislaus news page, and I noticed a lot of people post on there, and I kind of was just like dipping my feet in and then whoa, holy moly. It just blew up," Fisher said.
Fisher recieved so many donations that he had no way to transport them. That's when M&M moving company owner J.R. Huizar stepped up and offered a truck to Fisher to fill with donations and drive down to Southern California.
"I like to be involved and try to get back to the community, and I'm good at driving. So I'm going to take it down. It's really not that far for me. A few hours isn't too bad," Huizar said of the drive, which is roughly six hours each way.
The donation drive is still going on and accepting more donations. They're looking for necessities.
"I want stuff that will actually be used like dog beds, dog carries, dog food, baby stuff, hygiene products, girl hygiene products, you know? Things that are thought about and bags to carry them," Fisher said.
Aside from taking hundreds of donations down, Fisher is also sticking to his original plan of cooking for wildfire victims. He's already purchased over 400 hamburgers and hundreds of hot dogs.
He'll stay for two days before heading back.
"I feel like empathy is lost in our world, and I have no idea what these people are going through, but I could only imagine," Fisher said. "And that's like the definition of empathy and being there for somebody with not actually knowing what they're going through, just because it's called being a human."