In Los Angeles, the Palisades and Eaton fires that have burned for the past two weeks are among the deadliest and most destructive in California history, exacerbated by climate change. As of publication, the Palisades Fire is 63 percent contained while Eaton, in the suburb of Altadena, is 89 percent contained. Together they’ve burned nearly 40,000 acres of urban Los Angeles.
Pacific Palisades, which has an average home listing price of $4.7 million, has gotten much of the attention in news media because of the many celebrities who own homes there. Altadena, whose average home listing price is just 28 percent that of the Palisades, is less known, yet has a rich history.
During the Great Migration, when 6 million African Americans moved from the South to the North, Midwest, and West, many Black families settled here as nearby neighborhoods like Pasadena practiced redlining. In 2024, 18 percent of Altadena residents were Black; more than half were people of color. And 80 percent of those Black Americans were homeowners.
Though the Eaton fire still smolders, the Altadena community has banded together for relief and recovery. Many have lost so much: family members, friends, homes, valuables, places where memories were made. Through food, residents who have lost everything are finding sustenance for body and soul, and hospitality workers are collaborating to help the best way they know how. Here are 13 initiatives—some within the neighborhood, some from greater Los Angeles—that you can support to keep the victims of the fire in this vibrant community fed in the short and long term.
Altadena Farmers’ Market
In operation since 2012 and held on Wednesday afternoons in Loma Alta Park in west Altadena, the Altadena farmers’ market has sustained a double whammy, with local farms and vendors losing business and residents suffering the tremendous loss of the market, incinerated in the fire. All donations “will be used to purchase local produce from small farmers who are deeply affected by the fires,” says Rafaela Gass, the market manager and owner. “The produce will be given for free to families who lost everything and are now living on cereal bars and fast food. Our community needs and deserves to be nourished with healthy fruits and vegetables, grown with love and care by our farmers.” Farmers’ market food giveaways will take place on Wednesdays starting January 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unincorporated Coffee Roasters, 2160 Colorado Avenue, in Eagle Rock.
Altadena Community Garden
The Altadena Community Garden, which began in the mid-1970s, has also been decimated by the Eaton Fire. Located on the site of a former military academy adjacent to Loma Alta Park, it had 82 plots rented by residents for generations, and a communal area spread over 2.5 acres. Operating as a self-supported nonprofit, it receives no county funding, making the loss of the garden that much more tragic. It is hard to estimate the impact the destruction of the garden will have on the community’s ability to feed itself, as community gardens are instrumental in battling food insecurity. The garden also reduces environmental impacts, since the food doesn’t need to be trucked in. To help the garden rebuild, you can donate to its efforts to rehabilitate the soil, replenish garden tools and structures, and replant foliage—all consumed by the fire.
Altadena Seed Library
Altadena Seed Library is a seed-exchange network, founded to expand access to green spaces and shade while increasing food sovereignty and restoring local ecosystems. Helmed by Nina Raj, the library is accepting native seed and plant donations as well as tools such as shovels, crowbars, gloves, and saws to help sift through the rubble and clear debris. Native plants are especially useful after fire: Because they’re adapted to the dry local environment, they require far less water and are more apt to thrive. To find out which plants are native to the Altadena area, visit Calscape. Seed donations can be mailed to 37 Auburn Ave., No. 8, Sierra Madre, California, 91024, in care of Altadena Seed Library.
New Revelation Missionary Baptist Church, Special Needs Network, and LA Urban League Wildfires Fund
New Revelation Missionary Church, in partnership with Special Needs Network, LA Urban League, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has served as the site of distributing three hot, to-go meals per day prepared by Black-owned restaurants in L.A., among them The Serving Spoon, Dulan’s on Crenshaw, Hotville Chicken, and A Family Affair. It’s an important partnership between Black communities, with these restaurants—based in Inglewood, Crenshaw, Windsor Hills, and South L.A.—feeding Altadena, where 80 percent of New Revelation’s congregation lives.
“Our initiative not only supports local businesses, but also ensures that Altadena’s displaced residents have access to nourishing meals during this crisis,” says Connie Chavarria, senior director of programs and community services at Special Needs Network. “Donations serve as a lifeline for those who have been affected by the wildfires, offering them not just sustenance but also a sense of care and support from their community.” Donate to their LA/Altadena Fire Relief Fund to keep the meals going at 855 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, with distribution times of 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 5:30 p.m.
Inclusive Action Cash Assistance for Outdoor Workers
The fires, and the destruction they’ve left in their path, have created dangerously poor air quality in the Los Angeles area, making conditions extremely hazardous for outdoor workers, including food vendors, many of whom live in Altadena. Inclusive Action for the City—an organization dedicated to supporting the economic needs of underinvested communities—has started a fund to provide cash assistance to those workers.
“Many street vendors, gardeners, and recyclers rely on jobs that are out in the open air, but due to the fires, many have lost their incomes or even their homes,” says Rudy Espinoza, the group’s CEO. The fund is offering $500 to each applicant, to be used however they see fit, and so far has received almost 11,000 applications.
