How helping can help us heal after a tragedy like the LA fires
“We lost everything in the fire.”
Marie, a woman who was volunteering next to me at the Pasadena Elks Lodge to help victims of the Eaton Fire, pulled out her phone and showed me the charred remains of what was once her beautiful home.
Her loss, sadness, and shock were real. But even more shocking to me was that Marie was facing her loss by paying it forward to her neighbors and community members who were in the same boat.
Another volunteer, Denise, was helping fold clothing to distribute to families who had lost everything in the fire. “I would much rather be here helping others than thinking about what has happened in my neighborhood,” Denise told me.