All for 1 . . . : Ojai Rallies to Care for Town Activist Injured in Car Crash

It didn’t take a flood or an earthquake to rally the people of Ojai.

All it took was a very bad traffic accident that left a friend unable to pay for the round-the-clock care she needs and her mounting medical bills.

When community activist and fund-raiser Angela Armstrong was seriously injured in a Dec. 1 accident, Ojai residents responded overwhelmingly in a way they say defines their small, rural community.

Armstrong, they said, had given so much to Ojai; now it was time to return the favor and look after their own.

The night after the crash, more than 50 people held a candlelight vigil. And when residents learned that Armstrong--who has needed about $500,000 in medical care--did not have insurance, they began raising funds. So far they have donated $7,000.

But they aren’t stopping there.

To raise more money, friends in the community have planned a rock concert featuring Kenny Loggins, who is donating his performance. Also contributing to the concert’s success is the Ojai Valley Inn, which is donating use of the concert hall.

Residents are snapping up tickets for the March 17 concert at $100 a pop. All proceeds will go toward paying for Armstrong’s reconstructive surgery and physical therapy.

When they learned that Armstrong could no longer afford 24-hour nursing, a group of 25 people started volunteering to cook, clean and care for her.

“Ojai is the kind of community that pulls together,” said Michael Shapiro, a friend of Armstrong’s. “For a town so close to the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, it still has a small-town feeling. When one of our own needs help, we do something about it.”

Armstrong had been involved in raising money for the fight against the proposed Weldon Canyon landfill as well as the campaign for removal of the radar tower on Sulphur Mountain.

Dec. 1 started like any other day for Armstrong. In the morning, the energetic 34-year-old went running near her home in Matilija Canyon with her dog, Buddy, and then spent some time working in her home office.

In the afternoon, she buckled herself into her old Mercedes and headed for town along the meandering Matilija Road.

She wouldn’t return home for 38 days.

Barreling down the road at her was Christopher B. Stringer, now 21, and a 15-year-old girlfriend, in his Toyota Celica.

According to California Highway Patrol reports, Stringer was driving on the wrong side of the road when he smashed head-on into Armstrong. Although he was found at fault, Stringer was not charged in the accident, CHP officers said.

He and his girlfriend received minor injuries, but it took rescue workers half an hour to extricate Armstrong from the wreckage. Her face was crushed and her left eye gone. An ankle, hip and a wrist were horribly fractured and the bones in her knees were exposed.

It would take eight metal plates and wire meshing to reconstruct her face, and it’s too soon to tell whether her hip and ankle will ever heal properly. Three months later, she still requires 24-hour care.

“All I was doing was going to town to run some errands,” she said recently while recuperating at home.

After months of eating through a tube, Armstrong has learned how to talk again and can now take small steps with the help of a walker.

“This is the steepest mountain I have ever climbed,” she said.

But helping her reach the summit--and pay the bills--is a phenomenal outpouring of goodwill from friends and strangers.

Residents opened a special bank account in her name and filled it with $7,000; organizers hope the concert will bring in $25,000 more.

“Angela has brought out the best in all of us,” said Veevees Silva-Krauthoff, who has been putting 10% of her hair salon’s profits toward Armstrong’s medical bills. “The spirit of giving hasn’t stopped . . . she’s made Christmas last. It’s brought us all very close together here in Ojai.”

Armstrong, whose phone rings off the hook with calls from well-wishers, said she is honored by all the attention.

“A lot of people get badly injured in car accidents, that’s not unique,” she said. “What’s unique is the way the community has come together to help me. It’s a testament to Ojai.

“All the support has helped me heal. I know it has.”

But to Armstrong’s dismay, one individual’s goodwill has been conspicuously absent, that of the driver of the other car. “Chris [Stringer] has never even contacted me,” Armstrong said.

Stringer, who lives just a couple of miles away, said he hoped to apologize when he got up the courage.

“I don’t really know what to say right now,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FYI

Tickets are still available for the Kenny Loggins benefit concert at 7 p.m. March 17 at the Ojai Valley Inn. The $100 tickets can be purchased at Ojai Coffee Roasting Company at 337 E. Ojai Ave. and Serendipity Toys at 221 E. Matilija. Or call 649-4279 for information. Donations can be sent to the Angela Armstrong Fund, P.O. Box 1445, Ojai, CA 93024.