Upbeat music plays as text slides in over the rusted, charred remains of a building.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Mill City, Oregon
Broken pieces of furniture lie scattered atop a mound of gray ash. Beyond a pile of bent metal covered in rust rests a roofless building. A teenager with long brown hair and an American flag face mask interviews as text appears.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Cassidy Olson
Student – Santiam Canyon School District
CASSIDY OLSON: We’ve seen pictures and everything, and we just came here two days after.
A taller teen stands beside Cassidy, wearing a mint green face mask. Text slides in as she talks.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Bailey Olson
Student – Santiam canyon School District
BAILEY OLSON: I was in shock, and kind of denying the fact that I lost everything.
Two charred propane tanks marked with spray painted X’s rest beside the remains of an exercise bike. Ash fills the concrete foundation of a former home. A banner of white text slides down over the damaged site.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Cassidy and Bailey’s
home was among
the 4,000 houses
and 1.2 million acres
destroyed by the
September Oregon
wildfires.
More text appears over concrete bricks, misshapen metal, and chunks of siding.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Their school in the
Santiam Canyon
community also
received a large
amount of smoke
damage.
A blonde woman stands beside a road, holding a document. Text slides in.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Angela Rasmussen
Principal – Santiam Canyon School District
RASMUSSEN: The immediate impact for our students was just how we were going to start school, knowing that we had students who had no place to learn from. Right now, we are in distanced learning and students can’t be in our building. Before the fires, we ordered 20 hotspots for families that had connectivity issues, we’re up to about 80 right now, and that number keeps growing every day.
A woman with bangs works at a small desk beside a counter. Another woman in a maroon sweater video chats at a desk positioned beside a sink. A charred motorcycle stands upright, but its front wheel lies sideways. Heaps of ruined belongings liter the lawn surrounding the roofless building. A rusted tricycle sits on the pavement.
RASMUSSEN: In the days after the wildfire, people wanted to donate to our students and to our school, and so the idea of the Wildfire Needy Kids Fund came from that.
A damaged swing set rests in front of a tree without any long branches. Cassidy and Bailey keep their hands in their pockets as they chat with a bald man.
RASMUSSEN: Our kids are still kids, they lost their PlayStations, they lost their basketballs, they lost their curling irons and their nail polish, and they lost everything that makes them a kid, and in some cases things that they worked really, really, hard to save up for to be able to buy those things. The Needy Kids Fund is filling that void.
In the same space as the women working at their desks, stacks of books fill a table. Coloring supplies rest in bins nearby. The bald man interviews as text slides in.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Gary Daniels
UnitedHealthcare – CEO Washington, Oregon
DANIELS: We provided about 500 meals to individuals that were evacuated out of this community. The great thing about working at UnitedHealthcare with a great team in Oregon, it was, “What else can we do?” It’s something that I couldn’t be more excited to reach out to and learn about how we can support them through the Needy Kids Fund.
A worn trampoline stands in front of rubble left from the fire. A vertical banner slides down with text.
ON SCREEN TEXT: UnitedHealthcare
donated $25,000
to the Wildfire Needy
Kids fund, helping
students get supplies
and technological
resources for virtual
learning.
A woman in a thin coat with a thin black and gray coat interviews as text appears.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Debbie Fawcett
Teacher & Parent
FAWCETT: The Needy Kids Fund is helping my family by helping with hotspots, bringing out supplies to us. Without that we would have no access to any type of online schooling.
In a mobile home, a teenage girl in glasses sits at a table, smiling at her laptop. Debbie and Gary stare at the front steps of a completely leveled home.
DANIELS: The DNA that’s really kind of spread through our enterprise around serving our communities, we make sure that we can support the people that need it the most.
Angela sets down a rolled blanket as she crouches beside a group of brand-new backpacks. She reaches for a floral print one.
BAILEY OLSON: We probably wouldn’t be as far as we have come along without the support and the help from everyone in the community.
CASSIDY OLSON: It is just amazing, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
A blue logo appears over a white background.
ON SCREEN TEXT: United
Healthcare