A Home that Housed Hundreds of Kids Destroyed by Eaton Fire

When I was 7 and my younger brother was 4, we were placed into foster care, and in our third placement, we found a home — a home that has now been burned to ash and rubble in the city of Altadena.

It was a home that wasn’t ours by blood right, but by choice. A choice made by the Carrillo-Hernandez family to take in foster youth and give them comfort and food and normalcy when we had none of that.

My parents, whom adopted me around 5 years later, have spent their entire lives giving their home, their hearts, their everyday blood, sweat and tears to others and now they have no home.

My family, who has only ever given — to their church, to their family and friends, to foster kids and daycare kids — have had so much taken from them from in this devastating Eaton fire.

Not only was their house a home of comfort for all who passed through their wide-open doors, it was their livelihood.

My mom began her career in the United States cleaning the homes of people in Marina del Rey, Malibu, West LA, and Eaton Canyon.

She then began her own daycare business in her own home because where else could she cook for the kids she took care of so diligently, so warmly?

Our house was always warm, not from the house heater, but from the fire on the stove constantly on. My mom loved to make homemade tortillas, molding the masa on her hand into a circular shape, adding queso and loroco and beans to turn it into pupusas — filling the air with the aroma of gooey melted cheese.

The kitchen — always full of laughter, of people, of the whistling from the kettle on the stove as it boiled water for the coffee, of pots and pans on every countertop, some empty and dirtied, others filled with rice and beans to eat throughout the day for anyone to grab at any moment.

Every kid that came through our home on Olive Avenue was a part of our family regardless of race and background.

My mother united us all with her delicious food, her nurturing hugs, her selfless devotion, and has never been one to ask for anything in return (besides cleaning up after ourselves a bit).

All I have ever wanted for my family, for my mom, was to give them everything because that is what they gave me when they adopted me and called me one of their own.

My mother retired in the last few months, and passed down her home and her daycare business to my eldest sister who has a husband and two kids of her own.

She took over her legacy seamlessly, continuing to cook homemade meals for the daycare kids and hosting family birthdays, graduation parties, Thanksgiving dinners, and Christmas gatherings.

Although most of her kids have moved out with their own families, this was the home we all continued to gather at.

We recently just welcomed my brother back from being in the Navy out in South Carolina this past Sunday evening and celebrated the fact that he was assigned to a station in San Diego and was so much closer to us all.

Now, my family has evacuated into another sisters’ house in Arcadia, trying to find a place to live, calling insurance and figuring out what can be done, and wondering how we can rebuild this house that was a safe place to hundreds of kids throughout the years.

It is agonizing to accept this bleak reality that I will never be able to visit my childhood home and hug my mom hello at the front door, smell the cafe and pan from the kitchen, hear my nephews come running out to show me their latest toy and tell me a new thing they learned in school recently.

I understand that so many are suffering and in need right now due to the catastrophic loss from the California fires, our friends, our neighbors, and my heart goes out to each and every one of you.

Anything you are able to do helps: a like, a share, a prayer, a kind comment, a donation of any amount, would be immensely helpful to my family during this time.

The funds will be used for any and all necessities.

Since the home also had a daycare, my sister's source of income is gone for the foreseeable future.

Please send or share any resources that are available that could be helpful.

Thank you and my thoughts and prayers are with all of us during this harrowing time.