Hundreds of people showed up at a San Jose school on Sunday to donate furniture and other household items to flood victims, and dozens more were on hand to pick up those items.
Organizers of a drive at Selma Olinder Elementary School in San Jose said more than 200 flood victims, many of whom lost everything in the flood caused by overflowing Coyote Creek last month, were touched by the incredible outpouring of support they saw Sunday.
Whether it was a mattress or a couch or a table, flood evacuees picked up essential items to replace at least some of what they lost in the flood.
One woman said the donations will help her take care of her family.
"It will help me feed my family for the first few months," flood victim Elvie Cledoro said. "I got my dining table, I got my sofa. I can't believe it because we were worrying about that, where am I going to get the money to buy that stuff."
Cledoro said her family is still living at the evacuation shelter at Seven Trees Community Center, and she has no place to put the donated items. But U-Haul offered the use of one of its trucks as free storage for a month.
The event was organized my resident Kelly Woodward, who lives near the flood zone. Woodward reached out to the victims, asked them what they needed and posted the event on Facebook, and the response was overwhelming.
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Many items were left over from the donation drive when it ended Sunday evening, and those things will be picked up by the Salvation Army, organizers said.
