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SARATOGA SPRINGS — When Caden Erskine saw a social media post about the wildfires in California, the 17-year-old knew he needed to do something.
“So many homes have been destroyed. People have died from the fires. It was just like really sad, so why not help out?” Erskine said. “I thought this could be my Eagle Scout project.”
The Saratoga Springs resident saw an opportunity to help when he came across a neighbor’s Facebook post asking for donations for those impacted by the fires in the Napa Valley area.
“She said she was heading to see family there and that mask donations would be appreciated,” Erskine said. "The air quality is so bad there, it is just hurting their lungs. (The masks) have been in such high demand over there."
Within two days, Erskine hit up all the local hardware stores for donations, and the outcome exceeded his expectations.
“We were like. ‘Wow, it would be cool to get 1,000 (masks).’ And we ended up getting 4,000,” he said.
His neighbor, Heather Anderson, and her two sons drove to Napa on Sunday to help her family. They packed their minivan with all 4,000 masks.
Anderson said she was amazed at the fast response the project got.
“It was so neat to see all the donations come flooding in,” she said. “We were able to get help from golf legend Johnny Miller — he helped us make sure the donations got to those who needed them most.”
Since Sunday, Anderson's family has driven around the Napa area delivering the donations to hospitals, care homes and residents who are in desperate need.
“It's been interesting, even just being out here, for my boys to see that people are just stepping up and serving each other,” she said.
The family will spend the rest of the week making sure the remaining masks get handed out to the right people and organizations.
Erskine said even though he couldn't be there to hand the masks out, he is glad a simple act of kindness could reach those in need hundreds of miles away.
“I think it is so awesome that so many people around here are willing to donate and help out with this,” he said.
