Help Clayton and Karen Rebuild after the Eaton Fire

A note from Clayton and Karen-

Hello friends and neighbors, past and present.

As lifelong Angelenos, we are proud to live lives of quiet service. Our work allowed us to build a beautiful home where our friends felt welcome and our two cats, Anthony and Cleopatra, could be cozy and warm.

We wanted to begin by telling you a little bit about our lives, or at least what our lives used to be before the Eaton Fire destroyed our home.

My name is Clayton. I’ve been a teacher for 21 years, an occupation that has filled my life with light and happiness. As the lives of young people become more tumultuous, academically and existentially, I have tried to be a calm in the storm, letting them know that they are capable, wonderful, and can achieve great things. If you’re a student of mine seeing this page, I hope more than anything I have given you confidence and the skills to think through problems that once seemed insurmountable.

My name is Karen. I use my passion for design to address real-world issues and create positive change. In the past, I have been a Designmatters fellow and the former Creative Designer for The Help Group, the largest US non-profit that supports children with special needs. Today, my work at design agency Brand Ethos helps various businesses and non-profits find a unique identity and serve their communities.

We are also part of the team behind Seance Perfumes. Karen is responsible for the visual identity of the entire brand, from the logo to the packaging. Clayton is proud to use his skills as a writer to be the voice of Seance Perfumes, crafting the spooky tales included with so many of our fragrances.

A Waking Nightmare

On the morning of January 8th, our beautiful home was destroyed by flames. Our region had not been marked by the LA county evacuation warning map even as late as 3am, leaving us optimistic that our home would be spared even as we watched a trail of flames creep down the San Gabriel mountains. However, not twenty minutes later, embers began to dot the air like fireflies, and the air was thick with smoke. We left with our cats and a few bags of belongings, snaking our way through downed power lines and fallen tree limbs.

When we awoke the following morning, we began to monitor early notifications, such as the street addresses of burning buildings named through LAFD radio chatter. That shared document ballooned from fifty entries, then to more than two hundred. We watched addresses appear that we recognized from our daily walks. Then those names included addresses on the block over. Then our neighbors. By that morning, we had confirmation that our house was engulfed in flames.

In many cases, what we mourn is lost forever. We grieve over the spot near the front door where the cats liked to bask in the sun. We grieve for the spaces we built over nearly a decade to be a cozy place for friends to gather. We have lost the intangibles of being in a home of our own, a community we love, and a house filled with light and music.

We grieve for a once-beautiful Altadena, which felt like one of Los Angeles’ last remaining “hidden gems.” A place where fellow dog walkers waved at one another, where peacocks roamed the streets without a care in the world, and where nightfall brought the sound of hooting owls. All of that is now just so much ash.

What Your Donation Means

Every dollar brings us just a little closer to the realities of what it takes, physically and emotionally, to build a new life.

It is our most earnest hope we can restart here in Los Angeles, a city we both love. It will likely take months, perhaps even years, before we feel whole once again. But your contribution, no matter how small, helps us get there a little more quickly.

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This fundraiser was started by Lacey Walker, Clayton’s sister and fellow Los Angeles resident. All funds will go directly to Clayton and Karen to give them a new start to their lives after this tragedy. Please feel free to reach out to me, so that Clayton and Karen and not inundated by texts and calls at this time.