AmeriCorps fellow describes overwhelming volunteer surge managing YMCA donation centers during LA fires

Nicholas Taxaro, an AmeriCorps Fellow with the California Emergency Response Corps, said he was deployed to help manage volunteer and donation centers at the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles during recent fires and called the public response “truly overwhelming.”

Taxaro said he had moved to Los Angeles about six months earlier after leaving the Army and joined the California Emergency Response Corps so he could "continue serving outside of uniform." He said CERC members were tasked with organizing volunteers and donations at YMCA sites as people came to help and to give supplies.

"We had a truly overwhelming response," Taxaro said, describing the operation as similar to military logistics but without uniforms. He said he was struck by the number and diversity of people who came forward, describing volunteers as "people of truly every backgrounds" who had not known one another but worked together during the relief effort.

Taxaro said the experience reinforced his belief that volunteering is accessible to a wide range of people. "You don't need to have a certain amount of money," he said. "You don't need a certain level of education or backgrounds or privilege. Anybody can step forward and provide something." He closed by calling service an honor and urging community members to volunteer when emergencies arise.

No formal actions, votes, or policy proposals were described during this testimony; Taxaro's remarks were presented as a personal account of his deployment and an appeal for civic participation.