Krista has been volunteering the past several weekends at the LA Recovery center and helping the survivors sign up for long term assistance, mainly in the form of a Disaster Case Manager, who will help them navigate their way through the rebuilding process. UMCOR is one of the few organizations that will provide DCM free of charge to these survivors.  

On Thursday, January 30 I was blessed to work at the UMCOR table at the Pasadena HUB where fire survivors could go to get help from non-profit organizations that are assisting in the recovery from our recent LA Wildfires. I would like to share with all of you what a difference your generous donation of $11,000 worth of gift cards made to these survivors who have lost so much but have not lost their hope in humanity. Your cards were an answer to prayer, the UMCOR table had run out of gift cards on Wednesday evening and because they knew that I was coming with gift cards they would have them to hand out. Our cards lasted for two days. We only hand these cards in $100 increments to people whose home was destroyed, so that helps you to realize the immensity of this size of this disaster.

The people who received the cards were so grateful that people from a local church had thought to help them. They mentioned how they felt supported by the larger community gathering to help them go through this devastating loss and how it had renewed their faith in humanity. I heard many stories from people who had only a few minutes to evacuate their home, and I would like to share a couple of the stories that truly inspired me.

Joe and his wife were the 3rd generation of his family to live in their home. Their home was the center of their community, a safe place for people to come for a meal or if they needed a place to spend the night. Joe said that his parents and grandparents had the same policy. His great grandfather was a freed slave and fought in the Civil War. He showed me a picture of his great grandfather in his unform carrying a sword. That picture was framed and had that sword framed with it. They did not have time to bring it with them when they evacuated. He then mentioned to me that he had been able to go and see his home, which was totally in ashes. When he started to look around the devastation that was his home he actually found his grandfather’s sword and showed me the picture of it after it had been through the fire. It is amazing that it didn’t melt. He also showed me a picture of a wooden sign that they had in their home that survived the fire. He and his wife had many wooden signs throughout the home that had different sayings on them. The sign that made it through the fire was “Don’t tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is.” He told me that he and his wife will rebuild their home and will continue his family’s legacy of being a center of their community. He said that all the prayers and support they have had from total strangers has strengthened his faith and that he knows that they will get through this with the help of God coming from people coming to help them in their time of need.

Later that day I met Dan, a single father of two sons, whose home was destroyed by the fire. He and his boys who are in elementary school are now living in a hotel. He mentioned how much he just wants to sleep in his own bed but knows that will not happen. He mentioned that he often wakes up in the middle of the night and not remembering what happened and having that brief thought of am I on vacation? Only to remember why they are in the hotel. His focus is naturally on his sons, who also lost their school, and getting them through this. He said that even during this horribly devastating time he has felt God’s presence through the kindness of others.

We through your generosity and the generosity of other United Methodist churches were able to give these people and others hope. We gave them a $100 gift card, which seems so small, to get what they need and tools such as ash sifters, rakes, shovels and person protective gear to keep them safe while going through the ashes of their homes. We listened and gave them hope, that there are people out there doing God’s work who will help them rebuild their community.

Our church will help with Early Response Teams and if you are interested in participating in them you will need to be ERT trained. We are offering this training soon. It is all day and childcare and lunch will be provided. Contact Suzanne at Suzanne@cumchb.org if you have questions of are interested in the training.

We will also be sending Long Term Recovery teams when it is time to do so, which won’t be for some time. These teams will help with the construction of their new homes. We do have a team going down to the San Diego area April 6 – 11 to help rebuild after the flooding they had there in January of 2024. We do have a few spots left and these teams do not require specialized training to be on them. If you are interested, please contact Suzanne.

We have all been in prayer for those who have been affected by our LA area Wildfires. We are so grateful to our firefighters and first responders that put their lives on the line to save people and property. Now begins the very long road to recovery, even while people are grieving the loss of their homes, places of worship, schools, businesses and whole communities.

There is much work that will need to be done that only the county and city can provide, but there are still things that we can do as individuals and a church.

• We can continue lifting the survivors in prayers.
• We can work with our sister churches and other nonprofits in the area to help provide immediate needs.
• We have collected over $7000 worth of gift cards that went to Pasadena 1st UMC to hand out to fire survivors.
• We can become trained in early response through UMCOR so that we can help survivors sift through the ashes of their homes and be a caring listening Christian presence for them to start processing all that has happened.
• We can send Long Term Recovery Teams when it is time for us to do so and keep sending them no matter how many years this recovery takes.
• Our Conference has set up a special fund-the Los Angeles Recovery Fund—where you can contribute directly towards relief and recovery from the firestorms at www.calpacumc.org/donate.
• We will post when training is available to help with the LA Wildfires recovery.

We will not let these survivors feel forgotten and will let them know that God has not forgotten them either. We can and will bring hope.

Learn More About the Fires and Recovery Efforts

Here is a link to the video: Their Own Words: Altadena UMC Members Share their Experiences
And here is a link to the video: Rev. John Shaver shares a message of hope for the community of Pacific Palisades
Let us keep all the survivors in our prayers and help bring hope to the LA fire survivors.

Where Else Can You Support

We have a long term recovery adult work team going to the San Diego area to help people who were affected by the January 2024 flooding.
The dates are April 6 – 11. We will be more than likely doing drywall work, installing flooring or working on finish trim work. If you are interested in participating please contact Suzanne@cumchb.org.