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Blog archive

March 2025

About Senior Solutions
03/28/2025

Building a Bridge With Journey House, A Home Base for Former Foster Youth
03/28/2025

Come for the Knitting, Stay for the Conversation... and the Cookies
03/28/2025

Creating Safe and Smart Spaces with Home Technology
03/28/2025

Finding Joy in My Role on The Pasadena Village Board
03/28/2025

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
03/28/2025

Managing Anxiety
03/28/2025

Message from Our President: Keeping Pasadena Village Strong Together
03/28/2025

My Favorite Easter Gift
03/28/2025

The Hidden History of Black Women in WWII
03/28/2025

Urinary Tract Infection – Watch Out!
03/28/2025

Volunteer Coordinator and Blade-Runner
03/28/2025

Continuing Commitment to Combating Racism
03/26/2025

Status - March 20, 2025
03/20/2025

Goodbye and Keep Cold by Robert Frost
03/13/2025

What The Living Do by Marie Howe
03/13/2025

Racism is Not Genetic
03/11/2025

Bill Gould, The First
03/07/2025

THIS IS A CHAPTER, NOT MY WHOLE STORY
03/07/2025

Dramatic Flair: Villagers Share their Digital Art
03/03/2025

Empowering Senior LGBTQ+ Caregivers
03/03/2025

A Life Never Anticipated
03/02/2025

Eaton Fire Changes Life
03/02/2025

February 2025

Commemorating Black History Month 2025
02/28/2025

Transportation at the Pasadena Village
02/28/2025

A Look at Proposition 19
02/27/2025

Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Pasadena Village Board and Its Role
02/27/2025

Beyond and Within the Village: The Power of One
02/27/2025

Celebrating Black Voices
02/27/2025

Creatively Supporting Our Village Community
02/27/2025

Decluttering: More Than The Name Implies
02/27/2025

Hidden Gems of Forest Lawn Museum
02/27/2025

LA River Walk
02/27/2025

Message from the President
02/27/2025

Phoenix Rising
02/27/2025

1619 Conversations with West African Art
02/25/2025

The Party Line
02/24/2025

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
02/17/2025

Dreams by Langston Hughes
02/17/2025

Haiku - Four by Fritzie
02/17/2025

Haikus - Nine by Virginia
02/17/2025

Wind and Fire
02/17/2025

Partnerships Amplify Relief Efforts
02/07/2025

Another Community Giving Back
02/05/2025

Diary of Disaster Response
02/05/2025

Eaton Fire: A Community United in Loss and Recovery
02/05/2025

Healing Powers of Creative Energy
02/05/2025

Living the Mission
02/05/2025

Message from the President: Honoring Black History Month
02/05/2025

Surviving and Thriving: Elder Health Considerations After the Fires
02/05/2025

Treasure Hunting in The Ashes
02/05/2025

Villager's Stories
02/05/2025

A Beginning of Healing
02/03/2025

Hectic Evacuation From Eaton Canyon Fire
02/02/2025

Hurricanes and Fires are Different Monsters
02/02/2025

January 2025

Living the Mission

By Ed Mervine
Posted: 02/05/2025
Tags: ed mervine, la fires, newsletter february 2025, eaton fire

At Dawn by Ed Mervine

At dawn,
the San Gabriels are back,
stunningly beautiful, majestic, serene, and today, cloudless and smoke free.
At dawn,
our house stands untouched save for portable water, toxic air, and a garden filled with debris.
At dawn,
across the street,
a Craftsman and garden,
home to three generations of Jones’... gone...

Sunday, January 12 at dawn, the skies over Pasadena were perfectly clear. The visibility of the San Gabriel Mountains after being hidden by smoke and fiery chaos for five days marked our own transition from fearing for our lives to knowing we survived. The Mountains tell us that life goes on. 

We are all survivors and we all have our own story of survival. These range from the number of days spent cleaning debris to partial or total loss of home and, in too many cases, loss of life. All stories describe the many forms of healing that will continue for months and years.  All include the healing arising from giving and receiving. 

This is where the Pasadena Village is at its best and reveals its true strength: When the lifelong drive to find purpose and meaning through helping others meets a seemingly insurmountable and unyielding threat an explosion of energy and creativity occurs. The fires were one such event and the Village one such container of potential energy. 

In the Village, on a daily basis, this is manifest most clearly in the creation, planning, execution, and delivery of programs for the well-being of all. In this emergency, it is seen in the hundreds of individual and group acts ranging from delivery of air purifiers or opening a spare room to a Villager whose house was lost or a community brunch for all survivors. These are all acts of giving and examples of much needed assistance but there is more: the healing survivors receive through giving.  

When we receive, we know we are supported and cared for and included. When we give, we are rewarded with a strong sense of connection and trust. When we both receive and give, we know we are part of community and we are in control of our own lives.

Bridget Brewster’s story is one of many examples. Bridget is the Editorial Team Leader, a job that is part cajoling, part handholding, and part coach in the best of times. Bridget lost her home but at a meeting less than two weeks later she directed the Editorial Team’s preparation of a special edition of Voice of the Village. Her comment, “This feels normal. The fire messed with my life, but life goes on. This meeting feels normal.”

Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. They also capture the essence of the Village community. Village life can be summarized as hugs, coffee, trust and opportunities to contribute. I can choose to contribute. My life is not over. I’m in control of my life.

 

*To See More Experiences With The Fire, Click on #LAFires

 

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