What started as a project for a dad and daughter to fill some time during Thanksgiving week nearly seven years ago has grown into a huge, ongoing effort touching hundreds of lives.
James “Woody” Faircloth and his daughter Luna, then 6, initially wanted to make a difference for just one disaster victim.
But that experience led to the founding of Emergency RV, a charity that continues to solicit donations of recreational vehicles to supply safe housing to victims of natural disasters.
The idea was born out of the tragic Camp Fire, which raged from Nov. 8-25, 2018, destroying the town of Paradise, California.
That blaze killed 85 people and burned 18,000 structures, displacing over 50,000 people.
Faircloth said he saw a news report of a man who escaped the fire in an RV and thus had his housing needs taken care of, despite losing his home.
“It just occurred to me what a no-brainer it was,” Faircloth said in a 2020 interview. “There are RVs everywhere. Surely we can find one and take it out there.”
He found one on Craigslist for $2,500. He and Luna set out from their home in Denver, Colorado, to deliver it.
“I thought it’d be a great thing to teach my daughter about being kind,” he said.
He was right.
“It was an amazing trip,” he said.
As word of their good deed got out, they soon had people calling them, offering to donate RVs. Others volunteered to provide legal, clerical, and other support to help.
Soon, they launched Emergency RV, a charity to secure trailers for victims of disasters.
Since then, the Faircloths and Emergency RV volunteers have crisscrossed the country, picking up donated RVs and delivering more than 300 RVs to those in need.
They’ve provided homes on wheels for victims of January’s devastating fires in the Los Angeles area, as well as those in Western North Carolina who were left without shelter by Hurricane Helene last September.
“We’ve gotten all types of RVs, from mobile homes to travel trailers, to fifth wheels. Anything that’s in good working order, we will accept into the program,” Faircloth told WOAI-TV last month.
More recently, they’ve helped victims of the July Guadalupe River flooding in the Texas Hill Country.
One such victim was Robert Villa.
Villa, 62, and his dog, Lucky, escaped with their lives when the Guadalupe River surged 25 feet above the normal level in the tragic July 4 flood.
Lucky woke him up at 5:45 that morning. Thinking the dog just had to go outside, he opened the door and water began gushing in.
Thanks to Lucky waking him up, they escaped with their lives, unlike many of those around him.
But with their RV and all Villa’s belongings washed away, they faced an uncertain future.
Robert, a U.S. Air Force Veteran, was woken by his dog Lucky at 5:45 a.m. on the morning of July 4th. When he opened the door of his RV to let Lucky outside, water came rushing in. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing—or hearing. There were screams for help in the darkness,… pic.twitter.com/12QmMJ3iLm
— EmergencyRV (@EmergencyRv) August 13, 2025
Villa, a 62-year-old Air Force veteran, said it felt as if he was “between No Man’s Land and nowhere to go.”
But then, last week, his housing troubles were resolved when he received a donated RV from Emergency RV.
That’s exactly how it’s supposed to work, Faircloth said.
The organization’s website, EmergencyRV.org, lists information for those who want to donate an RV, those who want to request one, and those who want to volunteer — which Faircloth highly recommends.
“Doing something kind for someone else, with no expectation of anything in return, is the most amazing thing that you’ll ever do in your life,” he said. “It truly is.”
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