The winter storms and flooding that displaced hundreds of people in Monterey County are gone, but the impact it left in the over 2,000 people that evacuated from Pajaro in March continues.
To help the families who were affected and displaced during the storms, two nonprofits—Community Bridges, a Watsonville organization that has been at the forefront of aiding Pajaro residents, and Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Monterey—have teamed up to provide services for Pajaro residents. Tomorrow, Thursday, July 6, they will open a temporary resource center on Porter Street in Pajaro (located in front of the gas station).
The resource center will help families who are still recovering from the floods. The center will provide assistance applying for the various federal, state and local programs Pajaro residents have access to, including Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid, California Storm Assistance for Immigrants—specifically for undocumented immigrants—and Monterey County Storm Relief Support 2023.
According to Community Bridges, as of late June, about 250 Pajaro residents were staying at Watsonville hotels using Monterey County’s temporary shelter program.
“District 2 is deeply grateful to all of the community-based organizations who stepped into recovery mode almost simultaneously with the winter weather disasters in Pajaro,” County Supervisor Glenn Church said in a press release. (Church represents District 2 which includes Pajaro and other parts of North County.) “They are contributing to a roadmap for recovery that is striving for equity and relevance now and in the future. By continuing to prioritize this work with the opening of the Family Resource Center, they are helping to build a stronger, more cohesive, and more resilient community.”
The center will be open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9am-4:30pm. Tony Nunez, marketing and communications manager at Community Bridges, says in the near future they are hoping to expand operation to five days a week.
For more information, call 724-2997 or visit Catholic Charities and Community Bridges’ websites.