CALIFORNIA—The threat of a probable collapse of the Oroville Dam spillway caused nearly 188,000 residents to evacuate from nearby areas on Monday, February 13.

After the evacuation, members of the Sikh community in the surrounding areas of Sacramento and Yuba city extended a helping hand by opening the doors of their temples to the evacuees. Residents were offered vegetarian meals and temple halls were provided as places to rest and shelter.

Several Sikh temples, also known as ‘GuruDwara’s,’ invited all those displaced for food and rest. The public invitations were posted online via Twitter.

“We’re well prepared, all Gurdwaras are indeed open, we have meals and temporary shelter for needy,” Stockton Gurudwara tweeted.

A Sikh member compiled and tweeted an image containing a list of the helpline numbers of temples offering free help and temporary housing to evacuees. The image was re-tweeted over a few hundred times.

List of Gurudwara's offering help and temporary shelter.
List of Gurudwara’s offering help and temporary shelter.

Several other temples located near Northern California areas such as Sacramento, Roseville, Turlock and Tracy also sent public invitations to those in need of help.

Members of the Sikh community settled in California after migrating from northern parts of India, called Punjab. The Sikh community imbibes and idealizes the concept of ‘Seva’ – translatable as serving/helping those in need.

At it’s peak, two of the temples were able to house as many 350 people, according nbcbayarea.com.