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Operation ‘Hope, Love’ exceeds expectations
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Young Brody Wessels, 4, helps event co-coordinator Cathy Bernardi carry another box of donated items to get it loaded onto the truck during the Saturday, Oct. 26 collection in Riverbank to benefit Hurricane Helene victims in South Carolina. Marg Jackson/The News

It was more than they could have imagined. Given the opportunity to help, the community came through in a big way.

Donations poured in for the local clothing collection, hosted at the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Station 26 in Riverbank on Saturday, Oct. 26.

The goal was to collect some much-needed items to send back east, to benefit those impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Co-coordinators, sisters Cathy Bernardi and Theresa Berner, organized the drive, with the first collection on Oct. 26 in Riverbank and a second one set for Saturday, Nov. 2, with that drive-thru at the Hughson Fire Department, 2315 Charles St., Hughson, set from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The effort is called Operation Hope & Love From California and Bernardi said residents donated by the carload.

“Humbled and overwhelmed with the support of our community and just all of our volunteers that have helped, the STARS, we have had friends and family here, Stanislaus Consolidated members who were here on their days off, have come in and helped,” Bernardi said at Station 36 on Saturday. “We actually had people lined up before 10 o’clock.”

The co-coordinators have partnered with Lauren Holmes, a former resident of Escalon, who now lives in South Carolina, to help get the donations to those in need.

“One lady came through five times; she was a foster mom for many years so she had tons and tons of children’s clothes and it was just amazing,” Bernardi said, with that one donor bringing in 125 bags of clothes. “The community support … we never would have dreamed it would be as big as it is.”

She pointed to the business community coming through as well, from coffee for volunteers donated by Starbucks to Pizza Plus providing lunch; Del Monte providing bins for sorting the donations and Pacific Southwest Containers supplying the boxes.

And that is just a few, Bernardi said, with everyone wanting to get involved in the effort.

“It will do so much good for so many people,” she added.

Bernardi also said she learned that, reaching out, it was heartening to see how many people wanted to help and seized the opportunity to do so.

“Lauren’s setting up a clothes closet and is connecting with other organizations there (in South Carolina) that are helping people,” Bernardi explained.

At the end of the day on Saturday, she said they had approximately 300 boxes full of clothing.

“We are surrounded by amazing, loving, giving people in our community. We could not have done this without the people who helped spread word of our clothing collection event, donated clothing, the volunteers who helped sort and box it, and the businesses and individuals that donated goods needed to accomplish the task and food and drink to nourish our volunteers,” Bernardi said. “We are so very thankful to every single person who took time out of their lives to help us accomplish this mission. What started as an idea between two sisters, has turned in to so much more than we could have ever imagined, and it will help so very many people in the Carolinas. Thank you to every single person who has helped make Operation Hope & Love From California turn from an idea in to a full-fledged success.”

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Donors by the dozens – bringing in tons of items – helped keep the volunteers at a Saturday collection for Hurricane Helene victims busy in neighboring Riverbank. The group is partnering with former Escalon resident Lauren Holmes – now living in South Carolina – to get the donations of clothing, toys and other goods to those in need as a result of the recent hurricane. Here, from left, STARS Mary Alpers and Joni Faria, co-coordinator Cathy Bernardi and volunteer Erin Wilhelm organize items to pack into boxes at the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District Station 26 in Riverbank. Marg Jackson/The News