Las Vegas charity leans on community after warehouse fire destroyed donated school supplies

Nichol Zamora was getting ready for bed when it came — the security alert that changed everything.

It was a quick notification; her office windows were shattering.

“I just assumed somebody was breaking in,” she said. “Then I turned on my livestream cameras.”

At once, all she could see within her organization’s 20,000-square-foot warehouse were bright-red, swirling flames.

“I went into shock, got dressed, had my brother drive me down there,” she said, hoping the cameras malfunctioned. “As soon as we jumped on the freeway, you could just see the sky lit up.”

Her organization, Peoples Autism Foundation, collects and distributes school supplies for local children with autism. The monstrous blaze at 4343 Polaris Ave. early Aug. 25 destroyed the foundation’s entire inventory, including more than 15,000 pounds of clothes and about 400 backpacks, stuffed to the brim with notebooks, pencils, pens and more.

“We stood there for a good four hours in awe of the entire situation,” Zamora said.

Though the loss was devastating, with the help of many — including the firefighters who helped knock down the blaze — Zamora said she is back on track.

“We are currently working out of my home; my kitchen table is my office,” she said. “But the community’s been so positive, we have not lost our faith.”

Peoples Autism Foundation raises money by gathering donated clothes, dropped off in parking-lot collection bins throughout the Las Vegas Valley. The clothes are then sorted and set aside at the now-scorched warehouse for sale to third parties, such as Savers thrift store.

“That’s how we generate revenue for the school supplies,” Zamora said. Because the foundation operates on a quota agreement, the clothes burned at the warehouse just after midnight that morning cut into the rhythm of the operation — and the foundation’s revenue.

Last weekend, a donation drive helped replenish some of the clothes and school supplies lost. During another event Tuesday — hosted by the Clark County Fire Department and local charity Operation Fire “Holiday Emergency Assistance Team,” which was created by fire dispatchers — firefighters dropped off about 200 stuffed backpacks to Zamora and students at Cortez Elementary School.

Seventeen of those backpacks came directly from one of the firefighters who responded to the warehouse fire last week and felt compelled to donate out-of-pocket, according to Operation Fire spokesman Jayson Calhoun. Online fundraisers for the charity also raised about $8,000 since the blaze.

“Still to this day, we have not turned down a family for services,” Zamora said.

Zamora said she doesn’t know what caused the fire, and, according to the county Fire Department, the blaze is still under investigation. A damage total is still being calculated for the warehouse and everything inside, she said.

She probably will have to find a new building to operate from in order to keep the charity afloat. The first days of school are an extremely busy time for deliveries, which Zamora has carried out using her personal vehicle since the fire.

But Zamora said deliveries happen throughout the year, too. Sometimes teachers need school supplies to replenish their classrooms midyear, and sometimes children get an autism diagnosis toward the end of the school year.

“We are just taking it day by day,” she said. “Even if we have to move to a new location, if we are able to continue helping the families, it doesn’t matter where we are in Las Vegas.”

Anyone who would like to donate school supplies can drop them off at Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More, a partner to the charity, at 10660 Southern Highlands Parkway, Suite #108.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find @rachelacrosby on Twitter.