Charlie Sabella volunteered during fires

Late one evening, after volunteering all day at the Petaluma Teen Center that was doubling as a disaster relief distribution center during last October’s Kincade fire, Charlie Sabella noticed that his fellow volunteers were running low on energy.

So, the Casa Grande High School student gathered the volunteers and busted out some of the yoga poses he learned at a Santa Rosa Junior College class. The impromptu yoga lesson helped everyone decompress after a long day.

“It was the calm after the storm of a big day,” said Sabella, 17. “It did relieve some stress.”

It was an example of how, in the middle of a disaster, Sabella helped not only those in need of emergency relief, but also those in need of a morale boost. During the fires, Sabella volunteered every day at the teen center, putting in long hours. For his efforts, he was honored with the Service in Youth award from the Petaluma Community Awards of Excellence.

“I was surprised they picked me,” Sabella, who has lived in Petaluma since the age of 5, said of the honor. “I know there are other people just at my school who are doing amazing things.”

Sabella also volunteered during the 2017 North Bay fires, an experience he said that gave him valuable insight into managing a disaster.

“I got a lot out of it,” he said. “I was able to help others and I learned how to safely think on my feet.”

During the Kincade fire, Sabella’s list of responsibilities was long. His tasks included delivering thousands of pillows and blankets, training new volunteers on tasks as they arrived, entering data, helping with communication with the new shelters as they opened, and, as people were leaving the shelters and the number of volunteers trickled down, helping to pack up.

Elece Hempel, executive director of Petaluma People Services Center, which managed the teen center distribution site, said in a nomination form that Sabella was among the first volunteers to arrive and the last to leave.

“Charlie was the go-to volunteer,” she wrote. “He was there every morning, and was usually the last to leave the distribution site, even spending and extra 45 minutes one evening looking for my keys that I though I had lost (they were in my pocket). If we needed it done, Charlie figured out how to help us get it done.”

Volunteering comes naturally to Sabella. He started volunteering at the Trevor Smith Memorial Foundation, named after the 13-year-old Petaluma boy killed in a roadside accident. He also works as a counselor for the Old Adobe School District’s outdoor education program.

A junior at Casa Grande, he is the commissioner of activities for the Associated Student Body, and he works at the campus fish hatchery through the United Anglers of Casa Grande.

He also takes three junior college classes and works at Beyond the Glory restaurant.

“I’m pretty busy,” he said.

After high school, Sabella said he plans to go to college in Southern California, where he wants to study hospitality management. Eventually, he would like to work for Disney theme parks.

Until then, Sabella said he will continue to look for opportunities to help others.

“It’s a rewarding feeling to see what you can do for people in a vulnerable position,” he said.

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)