Last November, between housemates, neighbors and visiting friends, I found myself among 7 vegans driving in the night as a somber caravan of roughly packed cars. A cat was crying out loudly from within a box clutched to the passenger's lap, its guardian apologized to the box profusely. We all looked into the glowing canyon.
We were scared at the time, under mandatory evacuation, but at least safe. Our hearts went out to the less fortunate. We would be locked out of our home for more than a week to come, but the fire never reached our community. In that week of floating around Chico, doing what we could to keep stable, we encountered an abundance of love and support for and from the vegan community.
For the first night and much of the week, our group, along with our rescued cat and dog, overran the downtown house of a hospitable local produce farmer some of us knew through the farmers’ market. After a few of us woke on the first morning, we walked to Blackbird Cafe, where the wonderful people behind Near and Dear Vegan Bakery kindly insisted we take 2 trays of baked goods to share back at the house.
The simple and familiar niceties helped a great deal with our group maintaining composure. Not having to worry as much about food was a relief. We visited one of the resource centers and found the Sexy Panda food truck serving free vegan grilled cheese sandwiches. There was a box of vegan raisin pumpernickel bread from Upper Crust Baking Company and the World Central Kitchen was serving meals clearly marked “VEGAN.”
At Live Life Juice Co., they were sharing organic fruits and veggies, which ended up bringing many of us together for one of the few home-cooked meals in the week. It had been several days since we were evacuated, and as we sat distracted and quietly enjoying the warm food, the gathered company seemed to finally have a moment of reprieve.
Seeing all the support inclusive to veganism was uplifting. Impossible Burger donated pallets of their vegan patties, the Co-op served vegan stew everyday for anyone affected by the fire, pet food was available everywhere. I had the feeling these acts of compassion were part of a growing empathetic awareness– an awareness that will be crucial in the development of a necessarily more peaceful world if we are to survive at all.
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