While the holidays mean a time for family, disasters like the California wildfire affect families even on other ends of the country.

Take the Green family of Rochester, for example.

“[Thanksgiving is] a time that our family just loves one another during the holiday season, and it starts with Thanksgiving all the way through the New Year,” Shirley Green said.

And while 20 family members will be crowding the home Thursday, at least one chair will be empty.

“She will be missed, but we’re grateful that she’s on a mission doing what she loves to do and that’s helping others,” Cathy Thomas said.

Cathy and Green’s sister, Joyce Alexander, is all the way across the country in California, helping the Red Cross with wildfire relief efforts.

“You can’t see…where it used to be houses, it’s just burnt," Alexander said via a video call. "That’s all you see. Smokey and burnt areas.”

She says it’s a heartbreaking sight.

“It hurts. It could’ve been me; it could’ve been my family,” Alexander said.

And during this holiday season, Alexander feels like she’s needed there more than anywhere else.

“It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, to put a smile on somebody else’s face, so they know that people really care,” Alexander said.

The Greens say her call to service is nothing new, visiting Texas, Florida and most recently the Carolinas after hurricanes.

“It’s something we all know she loves to do," Green said. "We understand that she makes choices to go when she’s needed.”

So they’re OK to do without her this Thanksgiving.

“It would be selfish of us not to give her up, right?" Alexander's nephew, Thomas Green Jr., said. "I think they need her a lot more than we do, although we’d love to have her here.”

For them, it’s just something else to be thankful for.

“We’re thankful Joyce is helping others. We’ll be thankful Joyce is safe," Green said. "And Joyce’s two children and grandchildren will be here missing their mother and grandmother, but we’ll be thankful that she’s still part of our family.”