Donation efforts for Kincade Fire victims expand across South Bay, Amazon assists

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- In the South Bay, donations continue to pour in for the victims of the Kincade Fire. Efforts by residents in San Jose have expanded to include the assistance of nonprofits and Amazon.

ABC7 News first introduced viewers to Gabriel Lopez on Wednesday. The San Jose business owner of Everything Goes Movers was just beginning to collect donations from residents, committed to helping victims of the Kincade Fire.

By Friday, his truck was filled.

Among the donations, dozens of bags donated by Amazon. Each were sealed, but Lopez said the bags carried necessities needed up north.

The rest of the items were donated by neighbors over the span of two days.

"Clothes, snacks, basically everything that we asked for and then some," Lopez described. "Dog food, all kinds of dog crates and stuff for the animals as well."

Lopez was getting ready to drive up toward Santa Rosa on Thursday. However, he ran into an issue with his moving truck. Something was wrong with his power steering pump.

Lopez said a rental truck is on its way. He'll need to then transfer the load for a Saturday morning transport.

The trouble isn't keeping Lopez from pushing forward.

"I know that they need the help, they really need the help," he said. "For me to just go through the situations that I'm going through, it's nothing. They had to leave their whole houses behind. They had to leave everything behind."

For the NorCal Emergency Response Team (NCERT), it's preparing to take dozens of trucks and trailers up north.

"It can help a hundred people, it can help thousands of people," Andre Silveira with NCER said. "So, we don't really know exactly how many people we're actually touching, but whatever we get up there. That's the big thing, is getting stuff up there."

Silveira said NCERT's donation collection effort started last week. Since then, he said the community has stepped up exponentially.

"No matter what you think, what you believe in. When times are hard, and people really need it, people will get together and they will do what they need to do to help one another," Silveira told ABC7 News.

NCERT is hosting a donation drop in Morgan Hill on Saturday, November 2nd. Visitors should head to El Toro Elementary from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The organization is asking that people please look at the list to make sure they are only donating items truly in need.

No used clothing or used bedding.

The list of needed items is growing. Go here for the most updated list, according to NCERT.

Get the latest developments on the Kincade Fire here.