On January 8, 2025, my family lost our home in Altadena.
We did what we could, desperately grasping onto a sliver of hope that the fires would not reach the home we moved into as newlyweds and later raised two amazing little beings, Reagan (8) and Elliott (6). Later that day, we found out that our beloved school, St. Mark's—where the children met their best friends, and we met our own best friends—also burned to the ground. Along with it went our local club, Altadena Town and Country Club, where the children practiced swimming, learned tennis, and even gleefully ran amok on the lawns. There, too, we forged beautiful friendships.
Our home, our school, and our club were vestiges of normalcy for us, and all three are now but ash and ember. I saw other schools, preschools, and daycares also burn to the ground. Even though I could not bring back the special ornament with which my husband proposed to me from the ash, the Christmas presents from Santa that the kids barely got to play with, or the heaps of photos we forgot while grabbing things in the pitch darkness with the wind howling and fire ablaze in the background, I wanted to do something to somehow help my community.
In my despair, I felt an overwhelming urge to cope with this grief by doing something to help give the children some semblance of calm and continuity and started www.lafamilysupport.com. Please donate to the cause so we can get more care for children displaced from daycares, preschools, and schools.
This initiative is dedicated to the beautiful families of Los Angeles—my beautiful neighbors, the Wiggins, the Perez, and the Foster families, the wonderful St. Mark's and ATCC community, and my friends who also saw their homes perish. I love you all so deeply, and I wrap my arms around you in this letter.
Big hugs,
Joan
www.lafamilysupport.com
