BOUNTIFUL—With all of the devastation caused by the fires in California, Spectrum Academy student Jace Wetsel decided he needed to do something. 

“We were watching a news report,” said Jace’s mother Brianne Wetsel. “He’s autistic. He has a big heart and is very empathetic. He asked us what he could do to help and get money and clothes.”

Jace reached out to his old football coach Jay Jenkins, who owns Jay’s Tire Pros and asked if he would help, she said. “Jay said ‘I want to help with that.’ He sent out people to go shopping and filled a dozen trucks. It would go to Jay and they would sort and package it. We made a goal to fill a semi every day.”

“I sent my wife and sister-in-law to go spend money at Walmart and Target,” said Jenkins. “We had a line of cars coming through at my shop to donate all week. We had five palettes with wipes and diapers.”

The Spectrum Academy held a drive the next day on Saturday. “Saturday afternoon we had a ton of volunteers offload the semi.”

Jenkins said his friend told him that he couldn’t just drive the semi to California and drop it off in a church parking lot. “He said ‘you can’t expect them to do something with it.’”

 They found a place to donate the supplies called Lifting Hands. “They’re in American Fork,” Jenkins said. “They organize it and take it to where it needs to go.”

Jenkins said they had to find out all of the supplies they were asking for in California. “With the floods in Florida they could clean and scrape mud off but some could be saved. In California things like kids toys and coloring books were 100% gone. So we went to Target and started getting toys and coloring books.”

It has to be so specifically organized, he said. “They have companies with a conveyor belt that sorts, separates, etc. We slowly put together exactly what they needed. Things like dog and cat  food. We wanted to do it right so that supplies get used. We focused on California but it’s good to know it can go to other places.”

Jenkins donated about $25,000 in supplies and Spectrum Academy got more than $5,000. Local businesses also got involved. “They jumped on board and families, and others donated about $35,000,” he said. “It was upwards of $75,000.”

The biggest help came from Ralph Smith Trucking, said Jenkins. “I called him at 2 p.m. and asked him to be at Walmart by 4 p.m. After loading his semi, he delivered it to the shop and then came back to pick up another load. He did that all week. Then he drove to American Fork (to drop it off).”

Jenkins said people have asked him if he’d do it again. “For me and my family it was amazing. I’d do it again tomorrow. I love this stuff.”

“Every day Jace would say ‘mom I can’t believe this,’” said Brianne. “This was overwhelming. People came out even though it was freezing and cold just to serve. It was touching to see the goodness in people. Jace was just happy that he created a project that turned into something huge.”