Volunteers Cook Up Way to Aid Fire Victims

Joy Lupanow and Kathy Payne didn’t know each other a month ago. They still haven’t met in person.

But by tonight, they--along with friends, relatives and a troop of Girl Scouts--will have prepared eight turkeys, 100 pounds of potatoes, corn, green beans, salad and 17 pumpkin pies to feed dozens of Thousand Oaks residents left homeless in a fire last month.

When Lupanow, a Thousand Oaks resident, and Payne of Newbury Park heard about the Nov. 12 fire at the affordable-housing complex near the Janss mall, they each were determined to try and relieve some of the displaced residents’ suffering.

And when each suggested providing Thanksgiving dinner, they were introduced by Many Mansions, the nonprofit group that built the Shadow Hills apartment complex and is putting displaced residents up at a local hotel until the complex is rebuilt.

Until today, the Red Cross has been feeding the families breakfast, lunch and dinner. But when it was not able to serve Thanksgiving dinner, Lupanow and Payne stepped in.

Lupanow is a pro at cooking meals for large groups, since her family--which includes husband Andy and five children--often provides meals for the homeless organized by churches throughout the Conejo Valley. And as a Girl Scout volunteer, she was able to call upon the girls as reinforcements.

Together, Lupanow’s forces will be preparing turkey, corn, salads, rolls and 17 pumpkin pies with whipped cream. They will also provide all the paper products--napkins, cups, plates--and butter.

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Wednesday evening, seven Girl Scouts from Troop 518 helped prepare food for today’s Thanksgiving dinner and helped make sack lunches for fire victims to bring home.

Twelve-year-olds Christina Carver and Amanda Milbourn helped spread peanut butter and jelly on bread for sandwiches.

“Doing this makes me feel good because I am helping someone else,” Christina said. “If I didn’t have a Thanksgiving dinner with my table and my family I would feel pretty sad.”

For Payne and friends, who are responsible for turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams, green bean casserole and 100 pounds of mashed potatoes, this is a new adventure. Her husband will set up and clean up, and her children, ages 8 and 22, will help serve.

“When my wife heard about the fire, she said, ‘I’m going to help these people,’ and now our house is full of food and donations--she’s really wrapped up in this,” Rod Payne said.

Dinner will be served from 5 until at least 7 p.m. in the recreation room of the Villa Garcia apartments, near the motel in which the fire victims are staying. Servers plan to stay as long as people keep coming to eat, because many have jobs and must work on Thanksgiving, Payne said.

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One of them is 28-year-old Reyes Chi-Farfan, who has two full-time jobs at local restaurants and works 80 hours a week. His wife, 30-year-old Julianna Carillo, cleans houses whenever she can.

When Carillo smelled smoke on Nov. 12, she got her two boys, 8-year-old Rayner Chi-Carrillo and 6-year-old Jhoan, out of the building with only the clothes they were wearing.

They didn’t even stop to put on shoes. “We climbed through the bushes and it hurt my feet,” Rayner recalled.

Because the family has no car, getting to work and back to the hotel has been a challenge, Carillo said. Her husband used to be able to walk to work and her son could walk to and from school, but no more, she said.

But, what she misses most is her kitchen. Rayner missed his video games the most. Before the fire he had a Sega and loved to play Sonic on it.

After the fire, all they were able to salvage from their home was a TV, some clothes and photographs, she said.

The family’s beds, sofa and other items will be bulldozed because they do not have a way to get them out or a place to store them before Sunday, when the fire-damaged apartments will be taken down, said Deanna Bell, service coordinator for Many Mansions.

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But Carillo still is thankful for what she has. “It is good to be alive and we thank God for all our blessings.”

Lupanow and Payne weren’t the only ones motivated to help those displaced by the blaze, which began in one resident’s apartment.

When 37-year-old Sugar Mejia of Newbury Park heard about the fire, she immediately drove to the scene and asked what she could do to help. She was told she could take a family home to live with her.

So she did.

“They had been through so much and were so scared,” Mejia said. “The family didn’t want to get into a stranger’s car and drive away. They didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Spanish. But they had no better choice,” said Mejia, a Many Mansions volunteer.

The family stayed with her for a week until other arrangements were made. Now, the two families plan to continue their relationship, she said.

“I am so impressed with the patience and appreciation shown by these families who had so little to begin with and have lost much of what they did have,” Mejia said. “They never complain.”