On Saturday evening at about five, a woman walked into Vons in Montecito and gasped with gratitude when she saw the store manager. They hugged, and the manager said, “I’ve been thinking about you.”
The exchange has been increasingly common among regular customers and the employees at the supermarket since last Tuesday's nightmarish storm that killed at least 19 people. Employees described the Vons as usually one of the busiest grocery stores in the area. But on Saturday evening, there was just one checker. Most in line were firefighters and rescuers staged in the parking lot. One fire captain approached the manager to ask for chicken for his crew. The manager, who said she always tried to remain strong in front of customers, appeared truly bummed. “We don’t have gas,” she said. It was cold in there.
In the last week, Vons in Montecito has transformed to a sanctuary for a community overwhelmed with sudden, horrific loss. Cardboard flats of plastic water bottles stacked high are out front for people to take for free. When Red Cross volunteers came inside asking for more coffee, the manager grabbed water bottles to make it herself, as the area remained under a boil water mandate. And after all, no one was working in the bakery. Most of her employees lived in Carpinteria or Ventura and could not make it in as the highway was filled with watery guck that one CHP official described as having a peanut butter consistency.
