Project Remember Me is a venture started by Kathy Jackson and her family after the Camp Fire. It is focused on making and gifting urns to the families of those lost in the fire or passed away due to complications from the fire as well as replacement urns.

After the fire, Jackson and her family were quick to help in any way, adopting eight families and taking supplies to Paradise for other survivors.

However, Jackson said she didn’t feel they were doing as much as they could and wanted to help in other ways.

While talking with one of the families she had adopted about their experience with the fire, Kathy and her family learned the family had left behind the ashes of a family member.

“These people not only lost Grandpa when they lost grandpa but they lost him again,” Jackson said.

After they left the family, Jackson had the idea to make urns for others affected by the fire.

Jackson said she wanted to reassure the survivors of the fire that their family members and friends matter — of the ones who were lost in the fire, before and after.

“I thought maybe we’ll get 50 to 100 people that are interested, so I posted it on my page and the Paradise adopt a family page,” Jackson said. “By the first week, we had 75 urns ordered.”

Jackson took a second job to pay for the clay and the firing.

“We didn’t want anyone who was affected, having to pay for anything,” Jackson said.

Jackson estimates the cost of an urn to be around $50 and people have the opportunity to sponsor urns for families.

Every urn is specially ordered and designed for the specific families needs. Jackson gets to know the families and their stories in order to ensure the urn is personalized.

The project is a family operation. Jackson’s son Taylor is a ceramic artist in Auburn and throws all the urns. Jackson carves and glazes urns, and her husband James makes the wooden lids.

To date, they have made over 250 urns for people affected by the Camp Fire.

“We’ve done many people who died in the fire, and we’re still doing them,” Jackson said.

She said that this project has been just as healing for her and her family as for those they’ve helped.

Carolyn Allen can be reached at [email protected] or @callen48 on Twitter.