Facing the Fire: A Story of Resilience and Community Support
In this emotionally charged episode of Pawsitive Profit, Kara shares her harrowing experience with the park fire in Butte County, California. She recounts the roller coaster of evacuating her home with her daughter, the overwhelming support from her community, and the efforts to rebuild amid the devastation. Kara discusses the importance of community, resilience, and not giving up on dreams despite life's challenges. She also introduces two new t-shirt designs created during the evacuation to honor the support received and offers a special discount to viewers. Join Kara in this heartfelt episode, emphasizing the strength and unity within communities facing adversity. Don't forget to visit https://pawsitiveprofit.com/shop to check out the new designs and use code FIRE15 for a discount through 9/5/24. Thanks for watching and supporting me!
Merchandise:
Check out our exclusive merch line just for dog treat bakers! https://pawsitiveprofit.com/store
Business Inquiries and Collaboration: support@pawsitiveprofit.com
Connect with Me:
Website: https://pawsitiveprofit.com
Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pawsitiveprofit?sub_confirmation=1
Podcast: https://pawsitiveprofit.com/podcast
Facebook Group: http://tinyurl.com/4tud85fb
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawsitiveprofit/
🎵Music License
Item Title: Stylish Driving Future Bass
Item URL: https://elements.envato.com/stylish-driving-future-bass-KWGYXMK
Item ID: KWGYXMK
Disclaimers:
The information provided in this video and/or podcast is for educational and informational purposes only.
Always consult with a professional before starting any business venture or making significant financial decisions. Any product recommendations are based on our own experiences and research and are not sponsored unless otherwise stated. No outcomes mentioned in the video or podcast are guaranteed.
Hey, friend, there's going to be a new schedule for the release of positive profit episode both on YouTube and the podcast that will be released every Thursday. I'm dialing it back just for a little bit to one episode a week. It'll help me to stay on track and be consistent with delivering content for you and also allow me to work on a very special project that I'll be bringing to you soon. So beginning with this episode, we'll have once a week on Thursdays, I cannot wait to share so much good stuff with you. Hope you tune in. Thanks. Hey, everyone. Cara here. In today's episode, I'll be opening up about my recent experience with the park fire in Butte County, California, how it impacted my life and our community and basically just the incredible support that we received. I'll share the emotional ride of evacuation with my daughter and the generosity of Veronica Crespo from our dog treat Baker Facebook community and how we're moving forward stronger than ever. Plus stick around to the end of the show to hear about two new t-shirt designs that I created during the evacuation and how you can get a special discount to show our appreciation for all the love and support. Hey, Baker. Do you want to launch your own dog treat business and make money for your family? Are you discouraged with just giving your dog treats away to friends and family instead of having booming online sales? Do you want to be home more to bake treats and make money selling them online? But you keep telling yourself that you don't know enough healthy dog treat recipes or even have the business or Instagram know how to make it all happen. Girl, I hear you. In this podcast, you'll find natural dog treat recipes and the secrets to launching your own dog treat business and tips for growing a successful dog treat business. Hi, my name is Kara Brothers and I learned how to make and sell healthy dog treats that customers want to buy and dogs love. And I started my very own successful dog treat business. Want to know how I did it? Give your dog a treat, grab one for yourself and let's dig in! Okay, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Positive Profit, the YouTube Show and podcast where we help you learn how to start and grow your own natural dog treat business. I just I could not let this event pass without acknowledging it because it affected me and because life is real and stuff happens and it's okay to talk about it. Join me for this special episode and learn how we can rise above challenges together. Before we jump into the episode, I want to remind you to check out the show notes for links to all the goodies and resources and support mentioned today. And if you are inspired by our story and want to keep us moving forward, make sure to visit positiveprofit.com/shop. That's positive with a PAW to snag one of our new designs. Also, if you find this episode meaningful, I'd love for you to share it with your friends and your fellow dog treat bakers. Your support helps us spread our message and reach more people who might just need a little inspiration right now. Let's get into it. I know it's been a bit since my last video and my podcast and today's episode is going to be a bit different from our usual content because I want to take a moment to explain why I've been absent and share a bit about my journey with you. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions and challenges friends. Today I just want to walk you through what happened and how it impacted my life and how I'm just finding my way back to creating dog treat baker content for you all and highlight some special things I've been working on during this challenging time. So it all started a few weeks ago when the park fire broke out in Chico, California on July 24th. 3.30 that day I got a text from my sister-in-law who lives on the property also. Actually, we live on her property. She has 12 acres. So we have a spot, her niece has a spot, my stepson does, and then she does and then a neighbor who was actually in the hospital at the time. So we all show this property and we have a group chat on Facebook instant messenger and she said at 3.30 heads up there's a fire in Upper Park that's in Chico. It's surreal to go back and end that chat and find that message and then just read like the barrage of messages that followed because once she said, "Hey, they're the fire in Upper Park, what do I do?" and naturally I go to Facebook to check it out and we've got a community group that I'm part of where they report fires and accidents and crimes or things like that and people were saying, "Hey, there's a fire in Upper Park." I saw a guy, literally, I saw a guy push a burning car into a ravine and walked away and she got a picture of him. She got a picture of his backside walking away. So all of us were like, "Whoa, that's crazy. Whoa, that guy is going to jail." But as time progressed rapidly, I could see this fire was 2,300 fakers and then I could see it was growing and growing and I thought, "Whoa, we better take some action because forest ranch is a beautiful but remote area and the ways out are very slim. Either you go up where it's super slim or you go down to Chico Highway 32." But that's where the fire was so I'm like, "Oh, this is getting dicey." Before the alarms went off because we have something called alert FM and it's a little device that if there's an alert in your area for where you live, the player is just a obnoxious noise and tell you and that had not gone off yet. So I thought, "Maybe I'm okay." So this text are going back and forth about, "Hey, who has gas? What do we need? Blah, blah, blah. Are you gonna go? No, I'm gonna stay." But we're all talking. No, I was up here without a vehicle. I'll just tell you that. My husband was down and she'd go at work. My stepson was out at Butte College, going to school. The niece was gone. The neighbor was in the hospital and so it was just me and my sister-in-law. This fire was a wake-up call for sure. Once I decided, "Hey, this fire is coming. It's happening." I decided to evacuate rather quickly. Actually, she evacuated before I did. She was on her way down the driveway, on down to Highway 32 because that lady is prepared for fires, for sure. But I've been texting with my daughter and she really wanted to get me. She's like, "Mom, you gotta go now. You gotta go now." And I'm like, "I don't think so. I think we're good." We've heard of fires before. It's no big deal. We're in Butte County. We expect this kind of thing, right? But she's like, "No, you gotta go." Once I made the decision to go, then it was like, boom, it was on and it was really emotional to realize, "Okay, I'm evacuating my home because of a fire." So imagine just basically picking up your entire life in a matter of minutes, not knowing what you're gonna come back to. It was tough for sure. Let me just take you through the evacuation process. Of course, I packed my essential items like mic flows, my, you know, dog food, medicines, all my tech equipment that I have around me, my cameras, my mic, all my lights, my computers, batteries, headphones. You name it. I put it in a big huge Rubbermaid to set it outside because I knew she was gonna be coming to pick me up. Also, PS, it was also very terrifying to realize I'm by myself. In this, I don't have a car. What if she can't get to me? My, my sister-in-law already left. Let go. What am I doing? Anyway, so that's like another layer of stress. So I'm trying to run around thinking, what am I gonna pack? I wish I had, now, for now, I know y'all have a go bag, really ready to go. Don't say you're gonna do it. Make that go bag ready. But everything that you need in it. So I'm piling up my stuff and I realized, man, my pile's getting big. She's got a Tahoe. So I'm like, all right, she's got a lot of room. I'm like, what does she brings the kids? She's got three kids. Like, I don't know, I packed everything that I could think of. And then I'm looking because I've got all my dog treat baker stuff on a gigantic baker's rack over there. I have one behind this screen. So I'm looking and I'm like, I can't forget those cookie cutters. Nope, gotta take them. I can't forget those special molds. The silicone molds are my four-inch cake rounds. Gotta take those. I have two 25-pound boxes, one of Pastries for Pet's original icing. And then I have one of rock card frosting. I have to take those, right, lugging these things out to the, to right outside the door. And I'm like, my happy oka flowers gotta go. All this stuff. And I realized, whoa, my pile is ginormous. There's no way I can take all of this, but I wanted to. Sadly, I had to put my dog treat stuff back. Oh, like the sinking stomach. No. Okay, PS, we have no insurance. That's a tough pill to say. It's hard to admit that. Nope, we had no insurance. Plus, good luck finding anyone who will ensure you for fire insurance up here now because of the campfire in Paradise, California in 2018. But regardless, we did not have fire insurance. I thought, well, it's gone. It's gone. I was in the Lord's hand. What else are you gonna do? What else? Really? Can you say though? Anyway, there was just no more room. And I was in a tough spot, as I said, no vehicle. So my daughter and I are texting back and forth and she just wanted to come get me now. As I said, no evacuation orders had been issued at that point, but she survived the campfire in Paradise. You guys, a couple of towns away. It's actually on, here's Forest Ranch. Sorry. Here's Forest Ranch, this ridge, and then this is Megalia and then farther down's Paradise. So we're one ridge over from each other. And that's where she was when the campfire happened. And she had a harrowing escape at seven months pregnant. I'm gonna tell you a little story real quick. Okay, I love you Lily. Hope I hope it's okay that I tell this story. She was pregnant and she lived with her boyfriend and their family. The boyfriend and the family, they got in the car and they basically said us four and no more. And they left her. I am not sure how this happened, but I cannot fathom in my brain who would leave a pregnant lady let alone your girlfriend to fend for herself. I don't know if you've seen or heard about the campfire. So here she was hitchhiking down Skyway. The only way in or out of Paradise except the terrible back roads. You couldn't take those back roads because that's where the fire was coming. Anywho, so she's hitchhiking walking down the Skyway, a lady in a Cadillac, an elderly lady, like myself, y'all. She stops and this lady is shaking. She is beside herself because flames are going over the Skyway. You couldn't see. You could see barely a road in front of you and flames on both sides. And my daughter opens the door and she said, "Do you want me to drive?" And the lady said, "Yes." So the lady gets out, goes in the passenger seat. My daughter gets in, they drive down the Skyway, you guys. Anyway, so that's what she, that's her experience with a fire. She gave birth to my beautiful granddaughter Vanessa. Oh my gosh, I might cry. Okay, I didn't know I was gonna go here on camera. Vanessa was born with charge syndrome. We don't know if in any way the fire had any effect on the severity of the charge. Syndrome. Charge is DNA based. Still tough to talk about. Anyhow, so my daughter's, "I've got to come get you now mom." So she got over here, she took that terrible back road and we got her Tahoe packed up and my husband still wasn't here at that point. We're packing up and I put Loki, Loki in a rubbermaid tote, y'all. It wasn't a rubbermaid tote in the car because there was no other room. Right before we left, my husband and my steps on finally showed up to pack up some stuff and evacuate themselves. Luckily I said husband, "Can you take some of those things in your car and can you take this other dog? Can you take Chibi?" And he said yes, so thankfully. And it's funny because when I talked to my husband when he was driving up, I'm like, "Anybody want me to pack for you?" He was like, "Nothing." "What?" Okay, whatever. I want about packing. But when he got here, I asked him again, "I'll help you pack. What do you want?" He said, "Nothing. I have you. That's all I need." "Oh my gosh. Can we have no insurance? Nothing is going to be replaced." Like, "Are you sure?" But yes. He said, "How about your dad's ashes? All right. I'll take those." So we gave his dad's ashes and I said, "All right. Honey, what else do you want to pack?" "Nothing. I've got you. I've got my dad's ashes, which are in a toolbox. I've got you. You know, it's hugging me. I've got you. I've got my dad's ashes." I said, "Honey, what about your insulin? Oh, okay. My insulin. Okay, so now I've got you and my insulin and my dad." So that's all he backed. Literally, that's it. That's all he packed. He used the rest of the room in his car to pack my stuff, you guys. Well, he's such a good guy. It was difficult because they had planned to go back down Highway 32 where the fire was coming up. They didn't want to go the rocky treacherous way. They want to go back down 32 and they didn't even know where they were going to land. They didn't know if they were going to go stay with his daughter or what. We took a back road and I was just basically praying that everyone was going to be okay and that we meet up later that evening. So here's the journey through the back road and it was emotional and I'll just, oh you guys, this is the way apparently my daughter takes from her ridge to mine whenever she comes to see me. I knew this but I had never been on that road. This is the most god awful road. I cannot believe she drives it. It is horrible. You guys, oh man, it was awful. But we actually did stop and because I saw the flames and I wanted to, basically, I wanted to take a picture and a little video. I have never seen something like that. Seeing the flames close up as my daughter, Drobus, through safety was wild and all these songs were playing. It's the final countdown. Oh, that's in my video and as we're evacuating in a Tom Petty, you don't have to live like a refugee and are they playing the Parkfire 2024's greatest hits? It was like one song after another. I was laughing and I was crying. I was also experiencing a terrible flare-up of my Ankylosing Spondylitis so everything hurt. That road being bumpy made everything worse. It was just a bad time, y'all. This is a bad time but I took some pictures on the way out, as you can see. I wanted you to see what I see. The pictures are weirdly beautiful if you didn't know what it was. We managed to get out and get back on the road and we headed to my mom's house in Oregon and my husband met up with me there and we stayed there for a few days along with other evacuees that she was housing that came down. Eventually my daughter and her girls, they also ended up having to evacuate their ridge in Megalia from the same fire. So crazy. We then later relocated to my niece-in-law's fifth wheel and she go to basically make more movement my mom's house for other people who were trying to find refuge there from the fire. You guys evacuating sex. Big time. Terrible. This picture that you're seeing here is the plume of the smoke that my mom could see from part fire from her house and where that fire is is where we live. It felt like while we were evacuated my world was completely unhold. You're living in a different place. You have different stuff around you, not all the stuff you're used to having, not knowing what's going to happen to your home, not knowing what's happening to your neighbors, not knowing what's happening to your community, not knowing if your life is ever going to be the same. And we had to rely on updates from the watch duty app. So we're checking watch duty because it makes a sound whenever there's an update. It's an unforgettable sound. So when we heard it like anytime, not a day, we're like, "Oh, got to look at the phone. Got to see what it says. How much more is it spreading? What roads are closed? What's happening?" And then we'd go and we'd check in with our forest ranch neighbors Facebook group for more information. So the community you guys were super incredible. I've never been part of a community Facebook group before. Moving up here changed that and I'm so grateful. There were some people who just didn't evacuate and they're helping check on people's houses and their pets, you guys. Not everyone's house made it. They would also check on pets. It would be like, "I have two cats and dogs. I couldn't take them with me. Can you feed them?" So he would go up there with all this food and he would feed them. So I was just really touched by the acts of kindness and bravery that I saw. But one of the most nerve-wracking parts too was the power outage that we experienced while we were away. So we can see on watch duty, "Hey, power is out." We also couldn't access our webcam to see if our trailer survived because the power went out to our webcam. So all I could do is really wait and help. But when the power finally was restored, I was surprised they got it on so quickly. I could see that our trailer was still standing. I felt a huge sense of relief. Our food had spoiled because it'd been out for several days and that, of course, added another layer of stress, right? Just go big Costco shopping and then you lose it all. Once we were told that our evacuation order was lifted, it had been reduced down to a warning. We were one of the first people back up the hill to check, "How's our house?" "How's the church?" We live one mile from church. So you go highway 32 and you take a right right at the church and then we're one mile down. So we had to pass the church to see our house. And what I saw is that our church was still standing and it had actually become a staging ground for Cal Fire. And their trucks were everywhere. Their huge monstrous fire trucks just trucks from everywhere out of state even. A Cal Fire firefighter, when we were there, offered us six cases of line lunches. And basically he said, "If these line lunches are still there tomorrow, you can distribute them to the community." And so we came back up the next day at 8 a.m. and they were still there. I distributed those from the church into our community for people who were coming back up the hill. And they were really a godsend for people who return to find all of their stuff spoiled because it's like this was on a Wednesday and it's like all your food is spoiled. People have had unexpected expenses from relocating. Imagine, hotel room we didn't plan to pay for, eating out because you can't cook at home, didn't intend to pay for, maybe pay days not till Friday. So these line lunches, they're basically what a fireman would take out into the field and sustain himself for 48 hours. They have 5,000 calories. So that was a big godsend that we were given those to distribute. Also, you guys, someone that found out that we were distributing these line lunches, they worked at Butte Humane Society and they coordinated the arrangement of this ginormous donation of cat food, dog food, dog toys, cat treats, dog treats, and go bags for humans when we went to pick up our cat from the small animal shelter because when we evacuated, we couldn't bring our cat to the places we were staying. So they had a small animal shelter setup. So when the orders were lifted, we went to go get our cat and they're like, hey, do you want a bag of kitty litter? We have outside cats, we said no, we have nine bags. And I knew that they were about to hold the very first gathering in Forest Ranch on Saturday, a small little gathering for the community. I said, I don't need it, but I don't think all your nine bags, because I'm going to go up to Forest Ranch and I'll distribute them. So they gave me all nine bags. They're huge. They're like the size of a small child or ginormous. We held an impromptu gathering in Forest Ranch at the one store we have. Oh, we only have one store. And we had a barbecue and free food and a band. It sounds like it was fun, but it wasn't. It was just like, we're able to catch our breath. We're able to say, hey, how are you? Did your house make it? How are you doing? It was very low key, super small, but being able to see our neighbors and distribute donations to the community felt so good. And it was so heartwarming to see everyone come together in such crazy time. It was really inspiring. People were sharing resources, offering to help and just really just be there for each other. We came home to our homes still standing, but it was tough. Looking near peeps in the eye and realizing their stuff didn't make it. And in fact, some people had lost their home in paradise from that campfire in 2018. And then they relocated to Forest Ranch only to lose their home again. I couldn't believe it. Totally devastating. They're not going to rebuild here in case you were wondering about returning to work and moving forward. This experience was both challenging and eye-opening and basically the anxiety of not knowing what would happen. And the emotional strain of weaving home was super overwhelming. I mean, after I got back, I was paralyzed with the fear of having to evacuate again. And basically, the stress of not being able to work on this show and be in my Facebook group and everything. I didn't unpack my suitcase, you guys, until four days ago. Today's the fourth day. I didn't even set up my office until today. I got this anxiety. I just, I don't know why. I just couldn't make the decision to do it. It was so strange. Anyway, I was thinking, "Should I see someone about this?" We actually have group therapy coming to Forest Ranch for people who are evacuated by this fire, but I am back. I am ready to move forward and I'm unpacked. I've set up my office. I see my pink paw. It's back. It makes me so happy to see that lit up when I go to work. And I'm excited to be able to create content for you again. The fire taught me a lot about resilience and community and basically the importance of just being positive when life throws you curveballs, you guys, because it will. This will not be the last one. I'm excited to share that I've created two new t-shirt designs that you can find in my shop at positiveprofit.com/shop. And I want to dedicate this episode to Veronica Crespo, a member of our Dog Treat Baker Facebook group who generously donated $70 and sent a ton of N95 masks to us to help deal with the thick smoke after we arrived. Because when we arrived, not only did our house smell like smoke, we had days where our air quality index was 567, the AQI. If you know about AQIs, that's off of the charts. Veronica, your support meant the world to us. And this episode is to you. Thank you. I am super thrilled to unveil these two designs that I created while I was evacuated. And as a special thank you for your support during this time. Thank you for all your messages, by the way. I am offering a 15% discount on these new designs. And they are all in the thank you Veronica category that we created in the store especially for this. So head over to positiveprofit.com/shop to check them out and use the code fire15 at checkout to get your discount on all the items in both new designs in the thank you Veronica category. And it's just a small way to say thank you for being a part of the journey with me. To everyone watching, I want to say this, life happens. And I want to remind you all that life can throw unexpected challenges away. But it's important to keep moving forward. It's okay to talk about them. No matter how tough things get, you can always find your way back and never give up on your dreams. This is my dream. As weird as it may seem. This is my dream. And I'm doing it. There's some bumps in the road, fires in the road, whatever. But don't give up. Be brave. Stay strong and keep pushing forward. Thank you for your continued support and your understanding. If you guys are going through a hard time right now, no, you're not alone. Reach out, seek support, and just take one step at a time. We're all in this together. And together, we can overcome anything. Before we wrap up, I want to share something special with you. While I was evacuated, I also created this t-shirt. It's it's so basic, I know, but it has this is me. This is what I'm working for. This brand right here. This means so much for me to wear this. I'm so excited about what I'm achieving and how many of you I have helped. It freaks me out, honestly. I'm so super, super proud to wear and it makes me really happy. Thank you for helping me achieve my dreams. I can't wait to get into my Facebook group. I haven't even done that. The first thing I want to do is record this video. I haven't even been really in my group. I can't wait to get in there. See what you guys are doing. See what you're creating. Are you guys thinking about Halloween? I'm so thinking about it. So we'll talk. Leave me a message in the comments. I'd love to hear from you and thanks for being here. I can't wait to bring you more content. Don't forget to subscribe to this channel and follow us on social media for updates and more content. If you have any questions or need support, feel free to reach out. Until next time, keep baking, keep smiling, and don't forget to treat yourself well. Cara. Hey Baker, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with a friend who may want to bake dog treats and make money selling them online and in stores? Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple Podcasts. It makes me so delighted to know this podcast is helping you. Okay, time to go make another batch of doggy donuts for the sales I got on Instagram. No more markets every single weekend. I'll meet you back here every Tuesday and Thursday for more tasty dog treat content. Until then, don't forget to treat yourself well. [BLANK_AUDIO]
