On this Giving Tuesday, we are looking back at a wonderful partnership we formed in September with the owners of the Chinese Camp Store & Tavern. Richard and his wife, Add, went above and beyond to provide much-needed items, care and comfort to their neighbors who lost their homes in the TCU Wildfire Complex disaster. Support our work in disaster response and so much more with a donation at redcross.org/donate.
Story by Red Cross volunteer Barbara Wood
The American Red Cross could not help communities recover from disasters without partners in those communities. In Chinese Camp, a historic small town outside Sonora that was devastated when a lightning-sparked fire swept through on September 2, those partners included Richard and Add Beale, owners of the Chinese Camp Store & Tavern.
Ten years ago, when the Beales first noticed the “for sale” sign on the run-down store and tavern on the road from Sonora to Yosemite, they could not have imagined they would be where they are today: the well-established owners of the store and serving as the community hub for the recovery from wildfires that destroyed 50 of the homes in a community that has only 150 residents.
Immediately after the wildfires, the Beales tried to fill the needs of desperate residents and first responders by giving them whatever they had on the store’s shelves. Soon they welcomed the Red Cross to the store grounds to distribute food, water and supplies. Later they allowed Red Crossers to repurpose part of the store’s parking area as a place to meet with affected residents. The Red Cross provided financial and other assistance, such as replacement of medications and eyeglasses, to aid the recovery of those who lost their homes.
The picnic tables in the store’s garden became a place for the Red Cross and the community to gather, to eat, rest, work and share their stories under shade trees, with the background accompaniment of the Beale’s flock of goats, chickens and ducks, and the gentle music of a koi pond waterfall and wind chimes.
The Beales said most Chinese Camp residents want to rebuild and return to the community, despite the fact that a majority of the town’s structures have been destroyed. And those residents said a big reason is the Beales, who bought and renovated the store eight years ago, making it the center of the community.
“People around here are so kind, so nice,” Add said. They help her out when she needs it, and “they know if they need help, they can come here.”
On Sept. 2, 2025, Richard was at work in Livermore when Add called to tell him about the fire and the evacuation warnings.
“I said don’t leave, I’m coming,” and jumped in his car, Richard said. But the mandatory evacuation order came long before he made it home. He met his family in Oakdale, where they spent the night in a hotel.
The store’s generator had kicked in and the family could see the store was surviving by looking at security camera feeds on their phones. The next day, even though the roads into Chinese Camp were still closed, the family was allowed to visit there with the crew from the local Fox News station.
The power was still out that day. Not knowing how long their generator fuel would last, they hauled the store’s ice cream freezer into the parking lot. They filled it with other perishable foods and urged those who had not evacuated or were fighting the fire, to help themselves.
“That was all gone by the time we got back,” Richard Beale said.
The Beale’s had to leave with the news crew, but the next day, because “it’s so frustrating to sit and wait in a hotel,” they used back roads to avoid roadblocks and moved back into their still- standing home. They opened the doors to the store and started cleaning.
“That’s what we were aching to do, get back and start fixing things,” Richad said. Their outdoor restroom building had burned both inside and out but was intact and usable after some scrubbing.
Their generator stopped only a few hours before the power came on, but their house does not have a generator, so they lost their own food, but not the store’s stocks.
The Beales were on an unsuccessful fossil-hunting trip when they chanced upon the store and its ‘for sale’ sign. Richard, a scientist who works as the radiological operations manager at Lawrence Livermore Labs, and his family of four had been living in Tracy.
When they found it, the store was only open intermittently and “was a bit of a dump. But that’s good, so I could afford it,” Richard said.
A few years later, the family sold their Tracy home and made the big move. Their daughter was a teenager, and their son was in middle school.
Add said she was a little leery at first because she had grown up in Bangkok, Thailand and always lived in cities, and the store is miles from almost everything. “I dreamed to own a store,” she said. “I didn’t dream it (would be) in the middle of nowhere.”
But once she had researched and found school and shopping options, Add said she was all in.
By the time fires struck, the family was deeply embedded in the community and the store, especially its garden, had become a gathering place.
After the fire, Richard made a spread sheet listing the Chinese Camp residents and their needs and those who had offered to help and what they could give. He took time off the job that he said “pays the bills” so he could be there to help.
When tourists on their way to or from Yosemite asked about the fire, he urged them to donate to a fund for the residents.
In addition to household items and clothing, which were moved to Nancy’s Hope in Jamestown when a light rain hit, everything from chain saws to generators has been donated. Cases of water, boxes of food, ice chests and protective masks come and go.
“I think Add and I were able to help a lot,” Richard said. “We’ve just given out tons of things people needed.”
The residents agree. Alexis Trakas, who lost her Chinese Camp home in the fire, said Add and Richard “make a safe haven for everybody.”
“I don’t know what we’d do without them,” she said.
The Red Cross workers said the same. Darlene Avery, a Red Cross volunteer from Great Falls, Colorado, said the Beales have been “so critical” to helping the Red Cross connect with the affected residents. “They have been so helpful to us,” she said.
What will happen to Chinese Camp remains to be seen. Most residents did not have fire insurance because they could not afford it, and the community had never before been hit by a wildfire.
But they know the Chinese Camp Store & Tavern and the Beales will there when they need them.
Donate to the Red Cross today at redcross.org/donate.
Gold Country News and Notes 