- So, the 2018 wild fire that destroyed
the town of Paradise, California
remains the deadliest and most destructive
in the state's history.
Over 15,000 homes were destroyed, 85 lives were lost.
Today, 16 months later
hundreds of families are still displaced.
My next guest is working to make a difference,
buying and donating dozens of RVs
for victims left homeless.
The RVs serve as temporary shelters
while the families get back on their feet,
but they do something a bit more.
They allow people to return to Paradise
and actually live in the community as the city rebuilds.
That's why he is today's rad human.
(upbeat music)
All right, y'all, please welcome James Woody Fairclaw.
(applause)
- Thank you.
- I love that you go by Woody.
- That's my mom's maiden name.
- Oh, it is?
My children would be very excited.
They're very big into that movie. (chuckles)
- Awesome.
- Toy story, Okay.
(laughter)
Just in case you're living under a rock,
so you're not from Paradise or even California.
So how did you get involved in this?
- Well, I'm actually from, I live in Denver, Colorado
and I was, I was, it was a year ago Thanksgiving
and I was watching what was happening in California
with the wildfires and the numbers I was hearing
were just unimaginable.
It was 50,000 people left, homeless,
- Yeah
- You know, just a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving
and the entire town burned down.
And you know, then I saw a story about this fire
and a guy had started up the RV on the side of his,
his house and he drove away down the road,
barely escaped his house burned to the ground,
like everyone else's.
- [Kelly] Yeah
- And you know, the same road he escaped on,
people died on and, and they interviewed him
and he just said, I'm so thankful that I have my life
and I have this home, you know, in this RV
and it'll just
- Cause everything else has gone.
- And it was like a lightning bolt.
I just turned to Luna, my daughter
and I said, Luna, what do you think about getting an RV
and driving it to California,
giving it to a family who lost their home.
She said, dad, God and Santa Claus
are gonna be really proud of us.
- [Trevor] Oh wow.
- I was like, it's on.
- Totally gonna cry.
- Wow. - Yeah, I knew
- God and Santa Claus are gonna be so proud.
- I knew that was it.
Like we are gonna do this.
And so then I was, okay, where do I get an RV, right?
- [Kelly] Yeah
- I went to Craigslist and I emailed everyone in Colorado
that was selling an RV that looked like
it would make it all the way to California.
- [Kelly] Yeah
- And now this one guy got back to me
and he said, "Hey, I'll sell it to you
"for a third of the price."
I was asking $2,500.
And so the day before Thanksgiving we went and bought it
and for the first time in our lives we'd stepped into an RV
and we just started driving.
And, we created a RVforcampfirefamily@gmail.com
and it's a mouthful email address.
And I posted it on one of the relief, Facebook pages.
The message just said, "Hey, I'm a dad from Colorado,
"my daughter and I are driving out
"and we wanna find a family to donate this RV to",
and I hit post and my phone just melted.
I mean, there were hundreds of families saying,
please just crying out.
- [Kelly] Pick us - Yeah.
- Yeah.
I think a lot of people always want to help
and they don't know how or where to put their money
or their time.
So once somebody kind of starts this like you did,
I think people start to jump on board
and really wanna be a part of that change and that help.
- It's so true.
- It's amazing.
- And people heard her about our story.
A guy called me and he donated an RV,
then I got called and said I'll donate two RVs.
But that's when I realized I wasn't driving the RV,
that God was involved and I just surrendered to God.
- Yeah, you were now just a vessel.
- Exactly. - For what's gonna happen
- And you know thankfully he was calling other people
at the same time and telling them what to do
because it all just came together in the most magical way.
But you know, when we got there and saw what was happening,
I mean it was apocalyptic.
You know, wildfires don't discriminate, right?
It burned the whole town down.
Everybody lost their homes and their jobs.
- You were affected, were you not?
- Yeah, I was.
We were evacuated for - [Kelly] Yeah
- Over a week and, it didn't get to our house,
but it burned our fence down.
- It doesn't matter who you are or what
it's like you're in the line of that path.
- It's just, it's, it's horrifying what happens.
And you know, we stopped for breakfast
and three of the waitresses in the restaurant
had lost their homes and the target checkout lady and I
were just weeping together, like hugging.
Cause she was telling me her story
and we were just so touched by it.
And so we decided, you know, we have this platform
we have to continue to help, you know,
with that first RV we gave it to a family of six
and they had an eight week old baby and they had lost.
- Oh my gosh, can you imagine an eight week old baby?
I mean, I can't imagine that part,
but can you imagine like out in a tent
to like, you're just camping
because you have nowhere to go.
- Yeah - Wow
- Well, we found a family to spend with Thanksgiving
and it was just, it was the most amazing Thanksgiving
and 51 years for me.
- And what an amazing thing as well
that you're teaching your daughter.
It's one of those things that you have to kind of find ways
like this to really show what, what true character is
and like what true kindness is.
And looking outside yourself like,
and thinking about others.
And even if you don't know them, if they're strangers,
it's a really cool thing you're teaching your daughter.
- Thank you.
- Well, Woody plans to give his 80th RV to a
80th, he's given 80 RVs away - Wow
- That's amazing by the way.
(applause)
Now, he's gonna give his 80th RV to a family
he's been in touch with.
They're backstage and have no idea
their new home is sitting outside
right outside our studio actually right now,
before we meet them, let's hear their story.
- My name is Kelly Sutterfield.
I'm a single mom of three kids
and I'm from Paradise, California.
Before the fire, our life was great.
We had just moved into a brand new house.
Everything seemed to be working out finally.
And then November 8th came,
I got a call from the school
that our kids were being evacuated immediately.
It was absolutely terrifying.
And we were able to grab a lot of trash bag of clothes
before the fire burned our house down.
So, we ended up staying in a tent
with the kids for about three weeks.
My oldest is currently living with his dad in Magalia
and me and the two younger boys
are living about an hour and a half away.
My one wish is to be able to get this RV
so I can get my family back together.
(applause)
- All right y'all, please welcome Kelly and her sons
Kingston, Weston and Wyatt.
(applause)
So, really losing, losing your house was tough.
It's okay, this is a cry zone.
I don't know if you've ever seen me on television,
but I'm normally crying,
but I know that losing your house was tough,
but some of the toughest moments
have actually arisen afterwards.
Right?
- Yeah, we went from living in a tent for about a month.
At a camp ground to living in a really small apartment
and the boys have had to move schools a couple of times.
We've lost a lot of connections with like family and friends
due to being so far away, from Paradise at the moment.
And I think the hardest part was the moment
Kingston here had a BMX bike that he had had before the fire
and it was this only thing that he had grabbed
out of our house before it burned down
and one morning we woke up and it was stolen
and, yeah, it was, it was really rough.
- That feels like the final straw.
- Yeah, that was, that was the breaking point for him.
He woke up that morning and just said, I'm done.
I don't wanna live in Corning anymore.
I don't wanna be in this apartment.
- [Kelly] Yeah
- And I sacrificed you know, my happiness to make him happy
and let him move full time with his dad in Magalia.
And so we are separated at the moment
about almost two hours away from each other.
- That's hard for a minor especially
- Yeah.
Yeah, we only see each other, you know, not very often.
- Oh my gosh,
here you go.
Don't worry, I'm silly, I cry all the time.
It's, I'm always got a stock of Kleenex.
They know me well here.
So Kelly, have you tried to move back to the area?
- Yeah, we pretty much have been trying since, you know,
we lost our house.
It's pretty impossible at the moment.
There's not much rebuilt yet in this town.
And there's very few rentals
and the rentals that they do have,
the rents skyrocket, it's double or triple of what it was
- That's wrong.
- Yeah, as a single mother,
obviously I'm not able to pay for that.
So I made the attempt to reach out to Woody here.
He was my last hope, to reach out to him and see if he had
any available RVs for me so that I can move back up
to Magalia Paradise area to have my family back together.
- Yeah, I have to say it was so touching
when Kelly reached out,
because like so many people from this community,
she said to me, you know, I've waited,
cause I know people need this more than me.
- Yeah.
- But I, I really need this, you know, it just
it's so touching to me that, you know, she, she, she waited,
she needed this the day after the fire
and wanted other people in the community
that might've been in a worse situation to,
to go in front of her, which is really,
it says a lot about Kelly and these boys.
So Kingston, you live with your dad now
and that's your mom said it's two hours away from her.
Like has that been pretty hard?
- Yeah, it's really hard.
I used to see my mom every day and now,
see her like once or twice every month.
I really hope she wins this RV, so I can be back with her.
- We'll be in just a minute,
I was trying to keep it together, everything's fine.
So Wyatt and Weston, what about y'all
you miss your big bro?
- Yeah
- Yeah.
Or does he tease you too much?
All right, well Woody you have something you wanna say.
Right?
- Well, I just wanna thank Kelly for coming
because you know, a lot of people, when the fire goes out,
people think problem solved, right?
And for this community, that's just the beginning.
We still have 130 families on our waiting list for housing,
which is, it's crazy, - [Kelly] Wow
- In this day and age.
So I just, as I told Kelly, you know,
doing things like this helps us bring more exposure
and I'm sure somebody out there has an RV
they wanna maybe donate and, and that's kind of
what we're looking for, you know, is people to help out.
- That's amazing.
It's amazing.
All right, well Woody has come through.
Check it out.
Oh, hey.
- Hey, what's up y'all?
- Your new RV is sitting outside our studio
and my friend Trevor Jackson is ready to give you a tour.
Take it away Trevor.
- I'm so excited
- This is yours.
- I'm so excited to show you guys your new home.
Woody what you've done here is amazing.
Let's check it out y'all,
- [Kelly] Yes
- Here we go.
- [Kelly] I love it.
- Come on in. Come on in.
We've got the whole new TV right here.
- [Kelly] Oh my god - We've got the kitchen.
- I love what you're watching.
- So many of the basic needs in the kitchen.
- That's awesome.
- It's amazing, we've got the couch right here.
You can lounge out,
- [Kelly] Play some video games.
- Yes men
And now Wyatt, Weston, I think you guys are gonna love this.
This is your guys' room.
Check it out.
- [Kelly] Oh my god
- I heard you guys love baseball.
You got the baseball bats.
- Yes
- Some new gloves.
- [Kelly] Yes
- A bunk bed.
Oh and you've gotta get the dinosaur.
We've gotta get the dinosaur here.
Bam.
- [Kelly] I love the Donald. My kid wants to live
- Okay, now Kelly, let's check out your room.
Mama bear's room.
Oh yeah.
Check it out.
- [Kelly] Yes
(applause)
- (speaker gets drowned out by the applause)
candles,
makeup - That's amazing
- Full bag.
Got a bath tub, a shower.
It's amazing, man.
I'm so happy for you guys.
What you've done here Woody is amazing,
Kelly, you're amazing.
And I'm just honored to be a part
of an experience like this honestly.
- [Kelly] Well, thank you so much Trevor.
- Thank you, thank you.
- [Kelly] Thank you.
- Peace.
- All right, so Kelly, what do you think?
What do y'all think?
- Oh my god, thank you so much.
- [Kelly] Yes
- Oh my gosh
- You'll be back together.
That's the best part.
All right.
Well, we actually have one more surprise for the boys
because after we read something,
we were very saddened by it.
- What?
- So it's been a tough year for Kingston,
especially after losing his bike.
So check it out.
Jax bicycle
- [Woody] Oh, yeah
- Check it out.
(applause)
Jax bicycles is giving all the boys brand new bikes.
A BMX and two track bikes.
Jax and track bicycles wanna make people happy
and they do it with bicycles.
They have 10 locations here in Southern California.
Thank you all so much for donating those bikes.
Are you ready to ride those bikes?
- Yeah
- Are you ready to ride to those bikes?