Since evacuation orders first began to lift for the Thomas Fire, the Red Cross has been there, helping families on the road to recovery. The local Red Cross is now expanding its recovery service centers for those affected by the fire:
Ventura County Credit Union, 6026 Telephone Rd., Ventura, CA 93003
Saturday and Sunday, December 30 and 31, 2017 – 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018 through Friday, January 5, 2018 – 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 6, 2018 through Sunday, January 7, 2018 – 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
NEW: Monday, January 8, 2018 through Friday, January 12, 2018 – 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Red Cross chapter office, 2707 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Sunday, December 31, 2017 – 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Ojai Public Library, 111 E. Ojai Ave., Ojai, CA 93023
Saturday, January 6 through Sunday, January 7, 2018 – 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
The Tzu Chi Foundation will be on site in Ventura on December 30 to provide additional financial assistance.
A public hotline has been set up for anyone who may have additional questions about what services are available. Please call the hotline at (512) 745-2920 or contact the local Red Cross chapter at (805) 987-1514 to learn more.
Recovering from a disaster can be a confusing, emotionally draining and complicated process. Red Cross caseworkers are trained to help people create recovery plans and connect people with the services and resources they need.
Red Cross caseworkers will connect one-on-one with people to create individualized recovery plans, navigate paperwork, and locate help from other agencies. In some situations, the Red Cross may provide direct financial support. The assistance can be used for such needs as an apartment deposit, to buy clothes or food, or to cover immediate transportation expenses. Red Cross clean up kits (sifters, cleaning supplies, shovels, etc.) will also be provided at each service center location.
The Red Cross delivers help to whoever needs it regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or citizenship status. The Red Cross is a charity, not a government agency, and people who have disaster-caused needs do not need to be American citizens to access Red Cross services.
See our previous list of Red Cross Service Centers, here.
Note: This post was updated on 1/7/18 to reflect additional service center dates.
Red Cross Central California Blog 
My daughter and i were evacuated because of the Thomas fire. I took my daughter and my pets down to LA the first week of the fire because of the air quality and because we were offered a place to stay. I drove back and forth from LA to my job in santa barbara everyday the first week. After my job closed down the second week, and we were moved from voluntary to mandatory evacuation, , I stayed down in LA as well. To make a long story short my financial situation suffered a pretty heavy hit..Today I have five dollars in my purse, a short supply of food food, no gas , and I had to borrow dog food to feed my dog this morning.( I didnt even get my daughter any Christmas presents) Fortunately the house we are living in is fine thanks to our wonderful first responders. Anyways, I saw this article last night and was super relieved. I didn’t know how the red Cross could help but my daughter and I decided it was worth giving it a shot, thinking that any assistance would help. We went to the Santa Barbara Red Cross this morning and tried to explain our situation but they just told us they were sorry they couldn’t help because they were only assisting people who had lost thier homes in the fire. Maybe i was just overly optimistic , but I believe that this article is a little misleading.
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Please make every effort to share this information with you family, neighbors or community members who can help us share our services and our hours. We are fortunate to have volunteers waiting to.meet with the public through January 14 – we hope to help our community with the support of our visiting staff from all across the country.
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