Five days after an early morning fire destroyed most of the stuff inside our Riverside business office, I went shopping for a replacement mail basket. In part because with no physical office I had begun stacking our business mail onto the passenger’s seat of my car which was proving to be an unwise practice. But mostly because after losing all of my business stuff in the fire I was beginning to feel a bit melancholy. Two weeks earlier I had just finished decorating my office. In fact the French themed tote I had recently purchased would have been perfect for the mail task. But it was now unusable, like everything else housed under that roof. It was ruined, the victim of intense heat, smoke, and eventually water.
As I walked around the store’s huge mound of baskets looking for a replacement and growing more and more frustrated as I realized they no longer had that exact tote, I had to stop and remind myself that it was all just stuff… a basket, a desk, photos, computers and printers, art, books, just stuff. It could be replaced. What really matters, I silently reflected, are people. The people we live with, work with, work for, and choose to spend time with, our community. That’s what really matters. From the moment we arrived at the fire scene I was reminded why I love living here. And the tragedy of losing all of our stuff in the fire proved to be the perfect opportunity to celebrate the caring people who make up our amazing community.
Amid the chaos of the scene that morning was investigator Shannon Smith and the rest of the Riverside Fire Department. They were calm and understanding and made the shock of the scene far less traumatic. I must publicly thank the young firefighter who heard our server still running after the electricity was cut, and secured it safely away from harm.
Councilman Mike Gardner was on the scene early Wednesday morning before 8:00 am. He not only offered assistance on behalf of the city, he handed me his cellphone external battery so I could continue to communicate from the parking lot. And he instantly had city staff send a list of possible temporary office spaces located in the downtown area.
Our insurance agent Scott Claus answered my 6:00 am phone call. I needed to know our insurance companies were going to be notified immediately. He is a third generation Farmer’s Insurance agent and has been the provider of choice for my family and our businesses for just as long.
The amazing team at Acorn Technology Corporation had our email up and running by mid-afternoon the day of the fire. Patrick Edgett and the Acorn team, led by CEO Don Dye, are allowing us to work remotely from our homes, coffee shops, or sandwich shops as if we are all still functioning in the same location.
Richard Nevins, our attorney, owns an office just two blocks away from ours and he offered his space as we worked to regroup the day of the fire.
Two days later we ran into Marlon Todd McClanahan at the downtown Riverside Starbucks while we worked to complete an important deadline. He immediately offered his office at Riverside County Fair Housing, which allowed us to print documents and think without the incessant sounds of the grinding of coffee beans and house music in the background.
Sandy Close of New America Media was the first to offer a contribution to an emergency fund to assist with the purchase of office supplies to allow us to continue running the business.
The team at San Dieguito Printing quickly re-routed the newspaper to another location so that our distribution team could do their deliveries as scheduled.
Knowing we have limited access to documents and no office furniture Terry Walling, owner of the Walling Building on University Avenue, has made the move to a temporary office space easy and effortless.
Finally, our team, namely Lee, Suzie, Natasha, Chris, Auvenida, Elliott, Corey, Hardy II, Art and Richard jumped-in and made sure we didn’t miss any deadlines, telephone calls, or emails.
We are thankful that no one was hurt in the blaze, just stuff lost. Stuff can easily be replaced. People can’t.