Heart in the Ashes: Finding Humanity in LA’s Wildfires

Items donated to Hope The Mission waiting to be delivered to those in need.

I’m not a native to LA, and I certainly brought biases with me when I moved here. Heck, I even told my wife soon after we met that I could never live in LA.

Being the adaptable in-love fool that I am, here I find myself in LA, living up in the Valley a few miles north of Pacific Palisades.

Those biases I had against LA—that it is heartless and cold and egotistical and doesn’t care about anybody else but themselves—have been proven wrong thousands of times over in these past couple of weeks since the wildfires started on January 7.

With a flexible schedule, I have been able to volunteer at a few different organizations around the area. What I’ve seen and experienced has drastically changed my view of this city.

There is a certain amount of well-intentioned chaos with a lot of these organizations. I have been humbled and extremely happy to see the sheer volume of giving and caring for strangers that I did not think was indicative of this town. I have never been happier to be wrong.

I know the news focuses on the negative until they put their two-minute happy story at the end of their broadcast. If you are watching a network television newscast that doesn’t run 24/7, then it looks like there are nothing but problems and trouble, and you hear of the looters, and you hear of the dead.

You definitely see the heartache, and if you have any empathy in your soul, you feel the pain of those who have lost their homes. What I don’t think has been shown enough is the immense good that has been going on since this tragedy unfolded.

We know about the first responders, the firefighters from here in LA as well as from the majority of the western states and neighboring countries that have come to fight the fires simply because they were asked. No city can stand alone when there is this level of tragedy and destruction this fast.

I am thankful for those that heeded the call and drove 1,000 miles or more in fire engines that probably aren’t the most comfortable for your average two-day road trip. When they got here, they went straight to work.

Inasmuch as the LAPD has problems and issues and a lot of the community has disdain or mistrust for them, they have been doing their part as well. Throw in some National Guard on top of that, and that professional help has been appreciated.

Behind that first layer is what I am most thankful for, and that is the sheer outpouring of love and offers for help. While some of it might seem a little misguided in the analysis months and years from now, I can’t help but think the intentions are pure and noble—that people just want to help.

They might not know how, and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but the intent is there (here’s a Google Sheet with options). I’ve seen it at food drives, clothing drives, and while volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in ways that aren’t 100% directly related to this effort, but just the people you’re talking to are there because they want to do something to help.

It’s the same with the LA Regional Food Bank, CORE, Hope the Mission, and Project Angel Food—all groups I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer with these past couple of weeks. That desire from tens of thousands of Angelenos and people all across the country—but let’s just concentrate on the local Angelenos, the ones I had biases against.

I can tell you that I won’t look at this town the same way as before the fires. To know that underneath that veneer of self-centeredness and glinting glamour are tens of thousands, and potentially hundreds of thousands, good, kind people who want to help their fellow human beings in times of tragedy, and who will step up whether it is money, the clothes off their back, their time, or talent—they want to help.

There are far, far more people in this town that want to help than I could have ever known.