Piedmont Troop Six put their cooking skills, gleaned from numerous
campouts and service projects, to good use for the community suffering
from fires this weekend in Santa Rosa. Led by Service Masters Teddy Bruin
and Kieran Okada, and Grub Master Jack Kohler, over 40 scouts
and adult leaders prepared and served lunch for 200+ volunteers working 2
miles from the fires still burning on Saturday.

The volunteers gratefully lining up for homemade salsa, fajitas and
veggies were members of the community, including some who had been
displaced themselves, and Redwood Empire Council Scouts, based in Santa
Rosa and with troops throughout Sonoma and Northern California. Fourteen
troops and packs and crews answered the call for help put out by Troop 134
Scoutmaster Michael Polkinghorn at 4p.m. on Friday: report to Home Depot
or Friedman’s in Santa Rosa at 8a.m. Saturday to build “sifters” used by
victims of the fire. These are the wood-framed nets, pictured here, used
to sift through the ash to pull out buried artifacts and mementoes with
meaning, such as wedding rings. Over 700 sifters were made on Saturday and
offered free of charge by Troops 134, 21, 5, 32, 27, 22, 55, 707, 121, 8,
333, Pack 1, and 118 and Crew 98.

Enter Troop 6, who had similarly responded to the community need by
organizing and shopping Friday night and loading their mobile kitchen at
8a.m. Saturday before setting out for Santa Rosa. Those digging in for
food included a volunteer named Ronny, who had evacuated from his home in Santa Rosa
the previous Sunday at 3a.m. with only the clothes he slept in. Staying
with friends in Petaluma and grateful for his own life and family, Ronny
had been building sifters all day before digging into the Troop 6 lunch.
Lemonade, fresh waters and piles of home-made cookies supplied by Troop 6
Assistant Scoutmaster Lisa Gros rounded out the meal to send satisfied
workers back to their task, and Troop 6 back to the relative safety of
Oakland and Piedmont.