DENVER — When people lose their homes in natural disasters, Woody Faircloth and his 11-year-old daughter, Luna, find RVs for people to live in through their nonprofit, EmergencyRV.
EmergencyRV receives donated RVs. In return, donors can write off the full appraised value of the vehicle on their taxes. The nonprofit then donates the vehicle to people who have no place to live.
The father-daughter duo is busy after the devastating fire in Maui destroyed or damaged nearly 3,000 homes and businesses. They shipped five RVs to Hawaii in September.
"We're going to try to send five to 10 more on December 29," said Woody.
Woody and Luna are giving the RVs to Maui firefighters who worked so hard to protect Lahaina and lost their own homes to the fire.
Complicating Woody's wonderful work is the fact that RVs are few and far between in Hawaii, largely because of the cost to ship them there. But EmergencyRV got the California Fire Foundation to donate the cost of shipping the vehicles to Maui from San Diego.
Woody and Luna have been doing this incredible work since 2018. They recently received a brand-new Winnebago from a Boulder couple.
"They said, 'No, we hate camping, and we thought if we got a motor home, we'd love camping. And we took it camping, and we still hate camping. And now we're paying $350 a month to store it,'" said Woody.
The Faircloths have provided more than 130 motorhomes to people all over the country who have lost their homes in natural disasters. The RVs have helped people impacted by tornadoes in Kentucky and hurricanes in the Gulf to fires in California. The two have even helped after natural disasters here in Colorado.
"We provided one for a family of five, they had a 3-year-old with cerebral palsy who was on a feeding tube and they were living in their minivan. That just shouldn't happen," said Woody.
These RVs aren't loaners. The recipient gets the title and owns the RV.
Woody said almost everyone who has received one of their RVs has then donated it to someone else when they found permanent housing, or given it back to Woody and Luna so they can continue their work.
"When you do something for someone with no expectations in return, the rewards are indescribable. They're amazing," said Woody.
If you would like to donate to EmergencyRV, click here.
