The fires that ravaged areas of California this month have had a devastating impact on the Wine Country. Buildings were destroyed, lives were forever changed and people were left to recuperate from their losses. Benicia High School saw the repercussions of the fire and became good Samaritans to their nearby cities.
When the fires first started raging, Benicia High School’s administration began thinking of ways to help. Following Hurricane Harvey a few weeks earlier, Benicia High adopted two high schools in the Houston area that had been affected and started fundraising for them. The school used this as its basis for helping those affected by natural disasters and saw what Northgate Christian Fellowship was doing by supporting fire victims with donations and decided to partner with the church. Over the course of several days, the school gathered enough supplies to fill a van with.
“We did this because we felt the need to help in any way that we could and because our parents and students wanted to be a part of a positive response as well,” Benicia High Principal Brianna Kleinschmidt said.
As of Wednesday, Benicia has ceased working directly with Northgate. The fellowship has transitioned from accepting large donations to gifts cards and money so those affected by the fire may buy items which would allow them to establish a new household. Benicia High still has an open dialogue with Northgate if any assistance becomes required.
Besides becoming a donation center for fire-affected individuals, Benicia High School also allowed two Napa secondary schools– Vintage High School and Napa High School– to practice on their field. Both schools used Benicia High’s field Wednesday and Thursday so the teams could get some practice in before their games over the weekend.
“It’s a little thing that we are able to do and we are excited to welcome them to our high school,” Kleinschmidt said. “Our athletes and our school programs in general help to volunteer last week.”
Kleinschmidt thinks allowing the Vintage and Napa teams a chance to practice was a pleasant distraction from what was going on and a nice way to bring the community together again.
“People come together to create good out of situations and often times we look at students as young adults and people often think negative of them,” she said. “They have so much positivity and power to do good and be a part of doing good. I think our kids are a great example of that the last few days. I just could not be more proud of them.”

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