By Jay Wilson | Del Cerro Action Council

The Adobe Falls Fire is behind us, but Del Cerro residents are not just standing by. Glenn Thomas, the vice chair of the Friends of Del Cerro contacted San Carlos resident Don Teemsma, owner of Ideal Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electrical, and a board member of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Foundation and asked how Del Cerro residents can say thank you to all the firefighters.

They checked the list of what the firefighters could use, and more tools for fighting brush and canyon fires were selected. The goal was $20,000. The Friends of Del Cerro partnered with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Foundation to raise the funds.

Teemsma contacted the San Diego Padres and they pledged $10,000. He called me and asked if the Del Cerro Action Council (DCAC) could lend a hand. I also contacted Rachel Gregg, the director of government and community relations for SDSU since the majority of the canyon fire was on their property.

On Sept. 4, SDSU President Adela de la Torre, and I, representing the DCAC, presented checks of $2,500 and $1,500 respectively to the Friends of Del Cerro. Friends of Del Cerro has raised over $2,000 and their goal is $6,000. To contribute, go to their website at Friendsofdelcerro.org. Read more about this project in another article in this issue.

Highlight your calendar for Monday, Oct. 22. This is the new date for the DCAC October meeting to accommodate Dr. de la Torre’s schedule. She will be our guest speaker. Fortunately, she is very interested in establishing good working relationships with the communities adjacent to SDSU.

Mark Rawlins, chair of the DCAC, would like to remind everyone that if you see homeless individuals in our canyons to contact Officer John Steffen, our SDPD community relations officer, at [email protected] or call him at 858-495-7971. He will alert the special unit from Eastern Division responsible for dealing with this type of issue. Don’t forget to use the city of San Diego’s “Just Do It” app to report everything from graffiti to lights out on a traffic signal. Rawlins said: “It really works. I used it to report graffiti and the graffiti was removed in two days.”

—Jay Wilson is secretary for the Del Cerro Action Council. Reach him at delcerroactioncouncil.org.