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Responses of Pasadena Village February 22, 2025

In the wake of the Eaton Canyon fire, Pasadena Village staff immediately created a phone tree to contact every member of the Village to determine how they were impacted by the conflagration.  Members volunteered to work with staff, and all 230 members of our community were contacted within a week. 22 individuals have lost their homes; a total of 17 homes have been destroyed. We believe 91 of our Villagers were evacuated from their homes. Some have been able to return but we do not currently have a good count of who is back in their homes or who has been able to visit their home, and who has not.

The Village had already created a resource website AgingSGV.org and quickly added additional information directly pertinent to the fire relief, including links to helpful maps that show the evacuation and burn areas, and a map of structures impacted.

In response to urgent needs, we immediately established a Relief Fund, which has now surpassed $70,000 which was initiated by a $5,000 matching grant from a board member. A large number of donations that are coming in are under $100 and a few of the other individual donations are over $1000. About a half dozen other organizations have made donations to our Relief Fund as well.  We successfully applied for several grants and were awarded more funding than initially requested. Additionally, we received unsolicited grants from other foundations bringing our grand total to over $170,000 which was in recognition of our very active response to the emergency like the Annenberg Foundation which awarded Pasadena Village a grant of $25,000 and from the California Community Foundation, a grant of $100,000. Both were issued in recognition of our organization’s relief efforts. Our Grants Officer at the Annenberg Foundation said: "Your organization’s efforts to support older adults through check-ins, resource coordination, and mutual aid are truly commendable." 

Access to the Relief Fund has been made available through a link on our website Pasadena Village Relief Fund  so that anyone coming to our website through the home page will have an opportunity to contribute. 

A number of small group meetings have been organized to provide emotional support among members.

Village volunteers continue to distribute supplies and financial assistance to residents of our community as well as to their fellow Villagers.  As this effort has grown, Village leadership has established a management process that identifies what needs to be done and that designates responsibility for who is going to do it.

The Board has established policies for the use of these relief funds. So far, we have distributed over 70 air filters and about $18,000 in gift cards, equipment, masks, etc. to help those in need. 

We continue to closely monitor the situation, assess evolving needs, and adjust our processes to better support the community. 

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