Help Rebuild Lives After L.A. Wildfires

Dear friends- the wildfires in L.A. are causing incomprehensible loss and suffering. Let's all do our part to help. Please share this fundraiser and help it go viral. Every donation large or small will make a difference. United, we have the power to help our fellow Americans at this time of great need.

This tragedy requires an extraordinary response of love, support, unity and courage. Below are the words of an incredibly brave and wise 72 year old woman who teaches a dance-based form of personal growth called "Dance Alive" in the L.A. area. I hope her bravery will inspire you to do all that you can. Every donation matters.

With love, John

"Dear Dance Alive Community,

I just lost my home in the fires. My beautiful home was not just a home. It was a community center for decades. For Dance Alive, for community events, people gathered there, felt safe. It was a beautiful, warm, enriching, and inspiring environment to be in and live in. It's gone now. I'm so sad to not be able to host the entire community there anymore. All of my husband's belongings and our belongings that we took decades and decades to build – the beautiful art, the elaborate crystal fossil collection, all the family photographs from our entire life – they're gone. And not only did I lose our personal belongings, I lost the neighborhood. It's in rubbles. And the village that we spent so much time in is gone. And almost all our friends' houses are gone. So it is a sad moment for me to say goodbye. Goodbye to an era that will never come again.

However, I know how to deal with loss. I know how to allow myself to have grief and deep sadness and to grab the bull by the horns and say, "I'm not letting this take me down! I'm not letting this take my family down! I'm not letting this take my community down! I'm going to live more and deepen my commitment to myself, to life itself, to my family, to my community."

I am going to bring my message to the world that when there is a loss, there is always an opportunity. The choice is here. Do I go up or down? And I choose with every opportunity to go UP. That's why I created Dance Alive in the first place. Because I wanted to be in an environment that people live fully and they danced and celebrated everything. Celebrated the pain, the pleasure, the challenges, the successes, the failures. And celebrated that we're alive, that we're capable of having this experience and capable of continuing to MOVE with all of LIFE.

So this is what I do. And this is what everyone in my family does. And this is what everyone in my community does. In every situation, you can CHOOSE TO MOVE. To move requires you let go of the past. That's what I do.

It's the end of an era. It's time for me to say goodbye. Not that I would have wanted this. I didn't want my husband to die of a heart attack suddenly a year and a half ago. But you know what? I chose movement. And I'm more alive than ever. And our community is stronger than ever.

YOU CAN CHOOSE TO MOVE. And to move requires you let go of the past. That's what I do."

In Movement & Love