For years now, your Lost Coast Outpost has considered it a core part of our mission to bring you any and every local red panda development, regardless how trivial. Thus, today we will note that, judging by the chaotic look on Saffron’s face in the picture posted by the Sequoia Park Zoo earlier today, our newest fuzzy red obsession is loving life outside in their posh new enclosure. 

It’s been exactly a year to the day since the Sequoia Park Zoo announced the addition of Saffron to their furry family. Around the same time, the zoo embarked on a Red Panda Improvement Project, which included major renovations to its red panda enclosure. 

Well, things have progressed nicely and Saffron has spent the last week or so checking out his new world. From the Sequoia Park Zoo:

We are excited to announce that Saffron has started the transition to the newly-renovated Red Panda Habitat at the Zoo! ❤️🐼

His animal care team reports that he is settling in nicely, and lucky guests might catch a glimpse of him as he explores the new space. 🌱

Thank you to the Christine & Jalmer Berg Foundation, Tyger Tea, Coast Central Credit Union, and the other generous donors and sponsors that contributed to the Red Panda Improvement Project.

Sweet pad secured. Now how about a special friend for Saffron? Well, the zoo notes on their Facebook page that they are currently awaiting a recommendation from the Red Panda Species Survival Plan concerning female red panda companionship.

Hang in there, Saffron. Love is on the way.

PREVIOUSLY:

• BABY RED PANDA HAS LANDED: Sequoia Park Zoo Rejects Community Plea For Moo Deng Clone, Goes With Strengths Instead

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Press release from the Yurok Tribe:

In an historic milestone, two sovereign Indian tribes have joined together to reverse decades of fisheries decline on the Eel River, the second longest river in California. On October 28, 2025, the Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Yurok Tribe met at the Wildlands Conservancy’s Eel River Canyon Preserve and signed a Treaty of Friendship that pledges their joint efforts to restore the Eel River.

“The Eel River is our lifeblood and when it suffers, our people suffer,” said Round Valley Indian Tribes President Joe Parker after signing the agreement within the ancestral territory of the Tribes on the Eel River. “We are pleased to join with the Yurok Tribe, which is the leader in restoring the Klamath River through dam removal, revegetation, and habitat restoration,” he added. “With this partnership, we hope all Native tribes around the world will be motivated to stand up and fight for their culture and rights,” he noted.

“We are honored to contribute the extensive knowledge and experience we have gained through Klamath River dam removal with our relatives from the Round Valley Indian Tribes,” added Joseph L. James, the Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “Together, we are uplifting our communities and forging a new path that aligns with our shared cultural values.”

The Treaty of Friendship will facilitate sharing of knowledge and expertise between the two tribes, and it will foster collaboration on restoration projects on the Eel River. The Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project, whose dams block several hundred miles of critical fishery habitat, is being decommissioned by PG&E. These ecological impairments have contributed to the decline of imperiled salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey populations. The removal of these dams creates opportunities to restore the Eel River to the healthy, free-flowing river it once was. The experience of the Yurok Tribe in restoring salmon runs on the Klamath River will inform tribal efforts on the Eel River to achieve the same result. “Based on the Klamath River and hundreds of other dam removals across the United States, we expect the Eel River to heal quickly once the river runs free,” said Chairman James.

The Round Valley Indian Tribes have lived along the Eel River since time immemorial. Like the Yurok Tribe, the Round Valley Indian Tribes have suffered incalculable cultural, subsistence, economic, and community injuries from the collapse of the fishery. With dam removal and comprehensive restoration efforts planned for the watershed, the tribes and fisheries experts expect native fish runs to gradually recover. The Treaty of Friendship brings the Yurok Tribe into this process as a partner with the Round Valley Indian Tribes. For both Tribes, the Treaty is a tangible expression of their traditional and cultural ties to rivers that have sustained them from the beginning of their existence.

Have you been dying for the opportunity to perfect your triple salchow, Humboldt? We bring you good news today.

The Outpost received a message from the folks at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds letting us know that they’ll have an indoor ice skating rink open to the public every day between Nov. 15 through Jan. 11 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (We give this announcement a ‘10.’)

The fairgrounds will also play host to some other holiday festivities as part of something they’re calling the “Winter Fair,” which we’ll let them tell you about in the press release below:

The Humboldt County Fairgrounds is thrilled to announce  the return of the ice rink and the debut of WINTER FAIR.  Combining the success of the 2024 Sparkling Light Spectacular and Holiday of Trees & Bazaar, this expanded  event promises to bring joy, warmth, and holiday spirit to the  North Coast for all ages. 

The fun begins this weekend, November 15th, with the grand opening of the Ice Rink. Families  and friends can lace up their skates and experience the magic of gliding on real ice at the  Fairgrounds. The rink was last opened in 2019 and has been a much-anticipated attraction.  Bringing the start of a season filled with festivities, twinkling lights, and community cheer. 

Enjoy an entire day of Black Friday weekend Holiday fun across the bridge! Explore Ferndale’s  charming Main Street shopping and dining then head to the Fairgrounds for skating, shopping  under the lights. The Holiday of Trees & Bazaar November 28th, 29th, and 30th from 5:00 to  9:00 p.m. feature local artisans and vendors offering handcrafted goods and one-of-a-kind  holiday gifts perfect for filling stockings or placing under the tree. There will also be a full  display of Holiday Trees beautifully decorated and themed. Available for purchase with silent  auction. Each tree a unique work of art that can be delivered to your home or gifted to someone  special. Perfect for anyone that does not want to drag out the decorations or might be too busy  with their Holiday schedule!

All under the glow of the Sparkling Light Spectacular. Doubling the size of the display after  2024’s success and community attendance, it is special for many reasons. The illumination  brings a childhood joy to all attend but most importantly it was created by so many that wanted  to help with making Holiday memories for others. So many helped including The Rotary, Lions  Club, Volunteer Fire Dept. and local business owners such as Redfront, Buttercup Coffee and  many more, all donated hours to making the fairgrounds magical. The displays is twice the  length of last year’s attraction. Visitors can enjoy both driving and walking tours through this  dazzling showcase of lights. 

All proceeds from Winter Fair events benefit the preservation and improvement of the Humboldt  County Fairgrounds, helping ensure this historic community space continues to thrive for  generations to come. 

Join us in celebrating this new holiday tradition, WINTER FAIR at the Humboldt County  Fairgrounds, where the season’s sparkle truly comes to life with the help of the community! 

THE LAST TIME LoCO WENT ICE SKATING:

• (PHOTOS) Let’s Go Ice Skating in Fortuna, Shall We?

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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

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At 3:30 on a July morning, Emily Meyers’ water broke. Her son was coming five weeks early. Meyers and her husband jumped in the car and raced from their home in Greenville, population 387, to Reno, Nev. where they had planned to deliver. It was a two-hour drive along mostly narrow, two-lane highways shared with logging trucks.

They didn’t make it in An ambulance truck outside the Plumas Hospital District. Photo courtesy of Plumas Hospital District time. Their son, Grant, was born in the car 13 minutes from the hospital to two stunned parents.

Along the way they had passed two other hospitals — Plumas District Hospital in Quincy and Eastern Plumas Health Care in Portola — neither of which have maternity wards. Meyers’ husband had asked if she wanted to stop at either one, but she told him to keep driving.

“At that point I didn’t know how intense things were going to be,” Meyers said. “I didn’t feel like I could stop in the little towns if something was wrong.”

Meyers’ frantic experience exemplifies the challenges that have become commonplace for pregnant patients in rural California: Dozens of hospitals have stopped delivering babies across the state, leaving many families with no option other than to drive for hours and hope for the best.

But in the remote Sierra Nevada community where Meyers lives, hospital executives have a plan to change things.

Plumas District Hospital, one of the hospitals Meyers sped past during labor, closed its maternity ward in 2022 after costs grew and birth rates declined. This year, it helped pass two state laws that give rural hospitals the ability to reimagine birth services.

One of the laws, authored by Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, creates a 10-year pilot program allowing hospitals such as Plumas District Hospital to create “standby” maternity units that operate only when needed, rather than offering standard 24/7 service.

The unit must have the ability to do surgical deliveries, blood transfusions, resuscitation and life-support measures. The California Department of Public Health will monitor and evaluate safety outcomes with the new model.

A related law relaxes some of the licensing requirements for birth centers, which are typically run by midwives and accept low-risk pregnancies.

“Expecting moms and their families in rural California deserve better,” said McGuire, a Democrat from Santa Rosa whose district stretches north to the Oregon border, in a statement to CalMatters.

Dr. Robert Moore, chief medical officer for Partnership HealthPlan, a health insurer that covers the state’s northernmost counties, said it’s not realistic for some rural hospitals to offer maternity care 24 hours a day. The numerous closures prove that. Emergency maternity services are better than none at all, he added.

“It’s not acceptable for someone to travel two hours to the nearest hospital. The outcomes are not worth it,” Moore said. “We owe it to the rural areas of the state to fix it.”

A new birth center for Plumas County

Next year, as a result of the legislation, Plumas District Hospital plans to open a birth center and standby maternity ward. Women who qualify and do not want an epidural will be able to give birth locally. The hospital’s on-call obstetrics team will be available to take transfers from the birth center should any complications arise that require a doctor.

Darren Beatty, chief operating and government affairs officer for the hospital, said maternity care is part of what makes a rural community vibrant, and it’s why facility leadership pushed hard to change state law over the past few years.

“We’re experiencing multiple threats in and outside of health care to maintain(ing) a rural lifestyle,” Beatty said. “We need to do our part so that Quincy can be an outlier and not continue to shrink and go away like many rural communities have.”

Nearly 60 hospitals have stopped labor and delivery services since 2012 in rural and urban areas alike, according to a CalMatters database. But in rural areas, when a hospital stops delivering babies, it is often the last option left to a community. The closest hospitals to Plumas with maternity wards are a 70-mile drive north to Susanville or south to Truckee through winding mountain roads. Many families, like the Meyers family, choose to go east to Nevada where the hospitals are farther but larger.

The Plumas District Hospital chose to open a birth center because families in the county want something different: Home births have trended upward since 2020.

A community midwife delivered more babies at people’s homes in 2022 than the hospital did in its labor and delivery ward, said Tiffany Leonhardt, director of business development.

“That was just really a huge eye opener to us,” Leonhardt said. “There’s so many women in our community who, number one, they want it, and number two, they actually qualify for it — it’s safe for them.”

Emily Meyers said if those resources had been in place three months ago, she would have elected to give birth locally at the birth center. She and her husband likely also would have stopped at the Plumas District Hospital emergency room in Quincy.

“A birthing center that’s 30 minutes from my house — that would be a huge relief,” Meyers said. “It was very miserable to be in labor in the car for an hour and a half. It would be nice if there were a few more options for people, and it would give me more peace of mind knowing there was more care available.”

Rural hospitals struggle to maintain labor and delivery

In 2022, the last year that Plumas District Hospital operated a maternity ward, it delivered 64 babies, barely more than one per week. When the number of births drops below 200, that’s usually a sign of trouble, Moore, with Partnership Health Plan, said.

Low volume is a common problem in rural California and one that comes with a hefty price tag. Maternity wards are often the second most expensive hospital units to run after the emergency room because they require around-the-clock staffing, and without enough births there’s no revenue to cover the service.

Plumas’ hospital also struggled with staffing issues. As a rural hospital, it needed nurses who could work in multiple areas of the hospital when women weren’t in labor; modern training has encouraged most medical professionals to specialize in a single area.

Open nursing positions with sign-on and housing bonuses would go months without applicants, hospital leaders said. Temporary traveling nurses hired to fill on the maternity ward were unwilling to work in other areas of the hospital.

“We couldn’t throw enough money at it,” Beatty said. “We were willing to spend whatever it took to get the staffing we needed, but that wasn’t the problem.”

Still, hospital leaders vowed to bring some birth services back to the area after closing the maternity ward.

Plumas District Hospital kept its 24-hour operating room open and retained anesthesiologists, obstetricians and respiratory therapists on staff. Typically, when a rural hospital ends labor and delivery, it stops related services; but doctors and midwives have continued prenatal care and follow-up with moms who deliver in other cities.

“Obstetrics really forces an organization to be very, very excellent across the board,” Beatty said.

Birth centers gain popularity

Emily Meyers’ sister-in-law, Mary Ann Meyers, remembers when Plumas District Hospital closed its maternity ward. She had been planning on delivering her first child there in 2021 when the Dixie Fire swept through the region, burning nearly 1 million acres. The hospital was spared, but she transferred her care to a hospital in Nevada instead because of the smoke. Months later, Plumas District Hospital shut the doors to its maternity ward.

That loss complicated the birth of her second child. Mary Ann drove five hours round trip between Greenville and Reno for those prenatal appointments.

Then, the same July day that Emily gave birth, Mary Ann found herself in labor with her third child, speeding to the same hospital. Her water broke at 2:30 a.m. She and her husband drove to Reno and had just checked into a hotel when they got a call saying Emily had delivered in the car and was also in Reno – in the Sierra Medical Center emergency room.

Mary Ann started feeling stronger contractions herself, so she and her husband rushed over to Sierra Medical too. By the time she made it up four flights of stairs to the maternity ward, Mary Ann was 9 centimeters dilated and nearly ready to push.

“We made it but I am definitely worried about next time,” Mary Ann Meyers said. “It went from zero to 100 in 40 minutes.”

Moms in the area will be excited about the new birth center, Mary Ann said. Many of her friends want natural births. Though she delivered in a hospital, she did it without an epidural.

Planned out-of-hospital births in California increased by 30% over the past decade even as birth rates overall declined, according to data from the Medical Board of California.

“If there is an emergency it’s still a little risky, but it’s good to know that there are people who are capable and knowledgeable if you need help,” Mary Ann Myers said.

Lori Link, a certified nurse midwife with Plumas District Hospital, said the plan is for obstetrics staff to routinely spend time at larger institutions, to keep up their skills.

Link, too, is optimistic about the future of maternity care in Plumas. Many of her current patients ask about the birth center and when it will open. The plan wouldn’t be sustainable if the community didn’t want it, she said.

“I think this is a testimony to the power of listening to women,” Link said.

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Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

Maria Cecilia Mendonca passed away on November 5, 2025 at the age of 92.  She was born on March 8, 1933 in Lajes, Flores, Azores, Portugal to Jose Antonio and Maria Vieira Goncalves. On November 20, 1954 she married Ernesto Mendonca. Cecilia immigrated to the United States, arriving in Arcata on October 31, 1957. In 1962 they welcomed their daughter, Maria Gorette. 

Cecilia worked at Lazio’s as a fish processor.  After her husband passed away in 1968 she started working at Feuerwerkers Furniture Store, which is now Hensels Ace Hardware.  She then went to work for Coast Oyster Company as a oyster shucker, a job she did for 15 years. After retiring from Coast Oyster she worked for herself as a house cleaner.

Cecilia’s favorite pastime was taking care of her vegetable and flower gardens and taking care of her grandchildren.  She loved picking them up at school, taking them to sporting events, and spoiling them with chocolate donuts every Saturday morning.

Cecilia enjoyed being a part of the Arcata Portuguese and Catholic communities, often helping in the kitchen at Portuguese Hall Events and various church fundraisers. One of her favorite things to do was make filhos (Portuguese donuts), especially for Halloween night for all to enjoy.

Those who knew Cecilia will remember her kind heart and caring personality.  She was always there to help family or a friend in need, whether is was taking them to the grocery store, a doctors’s appointment or simply keeping them company with conversation. Cecilia had a great sense of humor.  Her knack for a well timed joke and ability to make someone laugh with a silly gesture, brought joy to those around her.

She leaves behind her daughter, Maria Gorette Coelho (husband Lucio), grandson Casey Coelho (Lacey), granddaughter Brooke Coelho (Hayden), great grandsons Bennett and Calvin Coelho, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Cecilia was preceded in death by her husband, Ernesto Mendonca, her parents, brothers Luis, Antonio, Jose and Mauricio Goncalves, and numerous sisters-in-laws and brothers-in-law.

Her family would like to thank Granada Rehabilitiion for their exceptional care in the last six years. Rosary and mass will be on Thursday, November 13 at 11 a.m. at St Mary’s Church in Arcata.

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CORRECTION, 9:43 a.m.: After this story was published, Carr reached out to clarify that Humboldt Soup’s On was cofounded by Jaime Doyle, who made the first pot of soup, named the group and was instrumental in establishing it as a nonprofit. Doyle is no longer involved in the organization, Carr said.

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Arcata resident Jan Carr raised 10 kids — three birth children and seven adoptees — and once they had all left the nest, she figured she was ready for some down time. 

“I bought a house — little, tiny house — for myself, and I thought, ‘I’m going to read and drink tea and hike and that’s it,” she told the Outpost in a recent interview. “It never happened.”

Instead, without ever really planning to, Carr launched a nonprofit that, over the past two years, has provided nearly 40,000 meals to unhoused Humboldt County residents. She’s the executive director of Humboldt Soup’s On, which has a team of roughly 45 volunteers who serve hot meals to between 50 and 60 unhoused Arcata residents every single day, seven days a week. 

In a phone conversation on the eve of the organization’s second birthday, Carr told us about the impetus for launching it, the personal connections she has forged and the community support that has allowed Humboldt Soup’s On to flourish.

The logo for Humboldt Soup’s On.

It began, she said, with herding cats. Or trapping them, actually. Carr has long been involved in animal rescue efforts, and in 2023 she was volunteering with Arcata House Partnership to help trap feral cats. These captured kitties would then be spayed and neutered for the sake of population control. 

In the fall of 2023, she partnered with Redwood Pals on a plan to spay and neuter all the loose dogs in the Valley West area, too. Eventually she and her fellow volunteers managed to collect and fix all the strays they could find in Arcata and Eureka. 

“And that was really the focus for a short time, actually, because once we started on that, it was really clear that humans were struggling terribly,” Carr said. She remembers seeing homeless folks rummaging for food in a big dumpster in the parking lot of Arcata House Partnership. Soon she learned that a group of about 40 people were living in two makeshift camps hidden among the foliage in Valley West.

Carr initially assumed that these folks were receiving services, but after checking with local nonprofits and speaking with the people themselves, she learned that they weren’t. She panicked, overwhelmed by the knowledge that so many people were going hungry each day and huddling through the cold, rainy nights under flimsy tarps and tree branches.

“I got to be friendly with these people, and I was developing relationships with them, and I was, it’s just … their stories were … .” She struggled to find the words. “I mean, I was losing sleep over this. It was terrible. … I get a little choked up even talking about it now.”

She remembers talking with an administrator at Arcata House Partnership who said these folks had simply fallen through the cracks. There’s just not enough housing, not enough food, not enough resources. This person suggested to Carr, half joking, that she should adopt them, like she had with all those kids over the years. 

Carr chuckled at this memory. “I laugh about it now, and I laughed about it then,” she said. “But within a week, that’s really what happened.”

Determined to help these hungry people, she started buying pre-made deli items from Costco and delivering them to a few of the campers. She also enlisted their help in trapping feral kittens.

A woman named Jamme (pronounced “jammy”) was among the unhoused campers at the time. (In a phone interview, she declined to offer her last name, reasoning that there can’t be many locals with that name.) Jamme remembers seeing Carr offering various items to unhoused folks and then, one Sunday, seeing her out trapping cats.

“It was kind of intriguing,” Jamme recalled. “I wanted to know more: ‘How come this lady cares so much?’”

Carr, meanwhile, had realized that she couldn’t just feed three or six people at a time, not when the need was so much larger. 

Jan Carr on a recent outing to help feral cats in Arcata.

“There were at the time, gosh, 40-ish” unhoused people camping in the area, she said. “And so the only thing I could think of was to network on social media. I felt like my community had no idea they were there. I mean, we all see people clearly on the streets, with their little signs. Or we see them walking the streets. But to see them all together — and that many. The suffering that I saw at the time … I didn’t even see tents. They had tarps if they were lucky. It was horrifying to me.”

As far as she could tell, the only food they could get was stolen or pulled out of a dumpster or trash can. She started asking people if she could take their photos and post them online. Why? “Because I wanted my community to know they were there,” she said. “I really felt like nobody knew. Nobody knew how many were there and their struggles.”

Within days Carr started hearing from friends who wanted to help. A former cook suggested making a big pot of soup and feeding as many of the homeless campers as they could.

“It was on Sunday,” Carr said. “It was on November 12, 2023, and we went into the Ray’s shopping center, and by god, like 25 people came. They brought their dogs, and I was able to talk to them about spaying and neutering their dogs. So it was wonderful. It was so fun, and it was wonderful. So then we just thought, ‘Well, heck! If we can do this once. Let’s do it again! Let’s do it on Wednesday! And then let’s do it on Friday! And very quickly, I had a team of about 10 [volunteers]. And within, oh my gosh, I would say three weeks at most we were feeding these people seven days a week.”

Jamme was amazed.

“I don’t know how but she did it: She started feeding everybody,” she said. “Winter was about to happen, and she got clothes donated because she felt the need, and she knew that eating was the biggest issue.”

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Carr had yet to form a nonprofit organization, but the Presbyterian Church of Arcata reached out after seeing some of her Facebook posts and volunteered to serve as a temporary fiscal sponsor. Carr also reached out to Coast Central Credit Union regarding a grant opportunity. The folks there said she wasn’t technically eligible until she secured legal nonprofit status, but they were supportive of her efforts so they gave her $5,000 anyway, she said.

“That was the boost we really needed,” Carr said. “And as soon as we became a nonprofit, we rented a commercial kitchen.”

The all-volunteer crews — roughly 98 percent of which are retired women, according to Carr — feed as many as 60 people every day of the week, and since November of 2023 they haven’t missed a single day, Carr said.

Jamme, who is now employed and housed, said Humboldt Soup’s On has been transformative.

“It means a lot to people to know they’re gonna have food, warm food, and that there are people behind that who put love into the food,” she said. “It gives them hope. It gives them value. It gives them dignity as a human being.”

And Carr, in particular, has impacted people on a deep level, according to Jamme.

“No matter who it is, she’ll give them a hug,” she said. “She is an amazing person, really. She goes over and above for humans. … It builds self esteem. … She’s just a really special woman. If anyone needs any kind of award out here, she deserves it.”

As you might expect, Humboldt Soup’s On hasn’t been universally welcomed by neighbors. For a while the group faced pushback from Arcata officials, who were receiving complaints from businesses in the Valley West neighborhood.

Carr said she understands their perspective. “Nobody wants 60 unhoused people in their yard or next to their business,” she said. “I do understand it. But it became really difficult for us to find a place to feed these people. Very difficult.”

She’s heard people say the same things to hear about homeless people as they say about feral cats: If you don’t feed them, they’ll go away.

“Well, that’s not true,” Carr said. “These humans will not go away. Some of them have lived there for years, in Valley West and Arcata, and they will just be hungry or they will steal. … They say to me, ‘It’s so nice that we don’t have to steal anymore.’”

Eventually, Humboldt Soup’s On moved its operations into an unincorporated part of the county, and Carr said that the county government has been very supportive and kind. 

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) told the Outpost that Humboldt Soup’s On is the first and only group in the county to be registered as a Limited Service Charitable Food Operation with DHHS Public Health’s Division of Environmental Health.

“The program is amazing,” DHHS Director Connie Beck said. “They have more volunteers than any little program I’ve seen and get donations from many community members and local entities. Jan [Carr] is also very aware of the services DHHS provides and often directs the folks she interacts with to contact us. Her program is amazing.”

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Carr and her fellow volunteers have gotten to know the people they feed each day. It’s not like a food line, she said. “It’s always been very social. We are friends with these people. We know what shoe size they wear. We know who likes hot sauce in their soup. We are very close to them, and it’s the same core group of people for the last two years.”

Some have mental health issues or are otherwise unable to hold down a job. Jamme, who is now the outreach director for the Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction (HACHR), said there are “several different layers” at play in these camps, from addiction disorders and dual diagnoses to personal tragedies and more. 

Her own husband recently overcame a serious drug addiction only to require hospitalization from the effects of withdrawal and years of heavy use. 

“When my husband was in the hospital — this how incredible [Carr] is — she came up to his room brought me the most amazing food package for my daughter and I, so many good snacks you don’t think you need when you’re in the ICU, [plus] a personal card to all three of us even though my husband was in a coma.”

Carr and her fellow volunteers help people navigate social services, which often involves getting them new government-issued I.D. so they can collect social security. Humboldt Soup’s On has helped several people get housing through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Once a year, she said, everyone served by Humboldt Soup’s On gets a new sleeping bag, and the camps get new tarps and tents.

One camper expressed a strong desire to work, so volunteers arranged to buy him a brand new lawnmower, a weed eater, leaf blower and other tools. 

“And he just started doing neighbors’ yards,” Carr said. “He started doing the trailer park, and pretty soon — within, I want to say six months — he bought a truck! … It’s a really beautiful red truck, and he’s so proud.”

Humboldt Soup’s On is entirely supported by volunteers and donations. They rent a kitchen from the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Jacoby Creek, and purchase food via Food For People.

“We love Food For People,” Carr said. “We couldn’t do what we do without them.”

On October 1, Humboldt Soup’s On went completely mobile, meaning the volunteers now deliver food directly to people in their encampments. Recently, due to the government shutdown, Humboldt Soup’s On got a call from Northcoast Children’s Services informing them about children in the area who are living in cars with family members and in need of food. Carr and her fellow volunteers were more than happy to help. After a quick Zoom meeting, they decided to bring the kids “as much food as we can possibly bring them.”

She described her team of volunteers as “the most wonderful humans I ever met in my life,” adding, “truthfully, they are so committed.”

Sometimes Carr marvels at where she is and what she’s doing. “Like I said, I never planned it,” she said. “If you would have told me this three years ago, I’d think you were crazy. But here I am! And, yeah, this community has just been phenomenal to us.”

She says her team of volunteers is committed, but clearly she is, too.

“We will not stop feeding people,” Carr said. “I always say, I’ll either have to be in jail or dead before I stop.”

UPDATE: Says DHHS:

As of Nov. 11, ByHeart has extended its voluntary recall to include all batches of its formula. Anyone with this formula should discontinue use immediately.

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From the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services:

We received confirmation from Target in Eureka that at least four cans of recalled “ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula” were sold locally. The cans were sold in early November, prior to the recall for Infant Botulism on Nov. 8. No other stores in Humboldt County received shipments of the recalled lots. If you have used ByHeart formula purchased at Target this month, check the lot number and contact your medical office or Public Health at 707-268-2182 or the Sheriff’s Office after hours at 707-445-7251, if your formula matches the lot numbers below. If your baby is showing any signs of illness, go to the closest Emergency Department (ED) and notify them that your baby received the recalled formula. Local EDs have been notified of the potential for cases.

The following lots are being recalled:

• Lot: 206VABP/251261P2 (“Use by 01 Dec 2026”)
• Lot: 206VABP/251131P2 (“Use by 01 Dec 2026”)

The lot code and “Use by” date are located on the bottom of the infant formula can. 

This recall went into effect Nov. 8, after the Federal Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program (IBTPP), and state and local partners, started investigating a multistate outbreak of 13 infant botulism illnesses from 10 states: Arizona, California (2), Illinois (2), Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas (2), Washington. Laboratory confirmation for some cases is ongoing. There are no deaths reported at this time. The CDPH IBTPP reported an increase in number of botulism type A infections among infants consuming ByHeart powdered infant formula from August 2025 to November 2025. All 13 cases included in this outbreak are reported to have consumed ByHeart- brand powdered infant formula.

Symptoms of infant botulism include constipation, poor feeding, loss of head control and difficulty swallowing, which can progress to difficulty breathing and respiratory arrest. Symptoms of infant botulism, which is diagnosed clinically, can take as long as several weeks to develop following formula ingestion.

ByHeart Whole Nutrition Infant Formula is available for sale online and at major retailers nationwide, including the Eureka Target and Walmart. See the image below.