Team Rubicon volunteers help flood victims ‘like a bunch of angels’
Volunteers to ride in Ramona American Graffiti Cruise Night
As a gesture of gratitude, some residents have arranged for a group of volunteers, comprised mainly of military veterans, to ride in the Ramona American Graffiti Cruise Night Thursday night.
The volunteers have been assisting some of the homeowners whose houses were damaged from flooding on July 19.
The cruise begins at 7:15 p.m. from Ron’s Tire & Brake on the west side of town and continues down Main Street into Old Town.
“It doesn’t even seem real,” said Bonita Quirke, whose home in the 23000 block of Berryessa Court was flooded from the downpour July 19. “They were like a bunch of angels who swooped in.”
The group is part of Team Rubicon, an organization founded in 2010 by two Marines with the motto “Bridge the Gap.” Team Rubicon unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams to disasters around the globe.
One of the Ramona houses that Team Rubicon’s Region 9 members worked on was that of a 97-year-old World War II veteran who is bedridden. Pat Belden served in the U.S. Women’s Army Air Corps.
“They didn’t just look after the house, they looked after us,” said Debbie Labbe, Belden’s live-in caregiver.
The job of Region 9 members, who primarily hail from Southern California, was to tear out water-soaked drywall and insulation, and in some cases carpeting and cabinets to clear out black mold.
“We’ve done a lot of drywall abatement for black mold,” said Scott Petty, the incident commander from Northern California. “Some houses we’ve had to rip out cabinets, gut the entire house.”
Belden’s house in the 1100 block of Sixth Street was one that was basically gutted. Crew leader Rick Lambert said she did not want to leave her house.
“They protected her. Made sure she was in the back room,” he said.
Labbe, who pitched in to help with the demolition work, said the crew made sure she and Belden were hydrated and fed.
“When it was time for a break, they made sure I took a break. And I made some friends along the way,” Labbe said.
In addition to veterans and first responders, some civilians are also involved with Team Rubicon. The crew in Ramona set up base in the Charles R. Nunn Performing Arts Center at Olive Peirce Middle School.
Michelle Paravicini, a nurse from the Los Angeles area, noted that it is tradition to name their Forward Operating Base (FOB) after someone. At Olive Peirce, they named it FOB Belden, after the WWII veteran.
Conveying Belden’s sentiment toward Team Rubicon, Labbe said: “She has told me that she feels that she doesn’t know what she would have done with them....totally appreciates them from the bottom of her heart.”
Lambert said Team Rubicon was contacted by the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD). He was with the first team that came in Friday night, July 31, and met with OES and VOAD officials the next day at the Local Assistance Center at Ramona Library. He did initial assessments and a work group got started that day.
As of Aug. 5, the crew had completed 11 houses and were working on four others. They were scheduled to finish on Aug. 7.
Petty noted that they basically do demo work and prepare the house for a contractor to begin work.
“These people are amazing. Knew exactly what they were doing,” said Quirke. “They were so fast and they just cared. They were really gentle with everything.”
Because the group is primarily comprised of those who have served in the military or as a first responder, they understand the chain of command and can work well together, said Petty, who was a Navy E4 petty officer 3rd class.
Petty enjoys the camaraderie, like he used to have in the military.
“It’s like you’re back and everything clicks,” he said. “Plus it’s giving back. And most of us joined for our country and we believe in giving back to our country.”
Lambert, a disabled vet who served in the Marine Corps in reconnaissance special operations, said, “This was like coming back — the camaraderie we have.”
It’s also rewarding for the civilian volunteers.
“Once you get in it’s very hard to walk away because you meet such genuine kind people,” said Paravicini.
Because some of the volunteers live in Southern Cal and have jobs, they were in and out, said Lambert. Among the volunteers was Ramonan Megan (Lacey) Whigham.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3783 supported the group by providing food, and residents also dropped off food and water for the volunteers.
Although Petty is from Northern California, he remembered Ramona from his rodeo circuit days in the 1980s when he rode bareback saddle bronc.