Help Guy Horton and Family Start Over After Fire

I'm Guy Horton, and as crazy as it sounds, we lost everything in the Palisades Fire. We had our 2-bedroom apartment (photo above) for 18 years—under rent control—and are now facing the shock of starting anew. We didn't have renter's insurance. FEMA has been great, but they only cover certain things for renters. This fund is to help supplement that and get us into a new apartment as soon as possible so we can continue looking for something that will work for us long-term. Right now, my family and I are separated because our youngest daughter has to return to school. I stay in Pasadena (with the cats!) at my sister-in-law's, while my wife and two girls are in a hotel on the Westside. We see each other on weekends. We hope to find a new place to call home soon, but it hasn't been easy.

After-hours, I ran Palisades Tai Chi, teaching in the Palisades. In the fire, I lost all my equipment, like kicking pads, weapons, and uniforms, for my students. My classes also had to stop. I hope to start them up again in the near future.

Of course, so many things are irreplaceable: all the special crafts and art projects our girls made since they were little, old family photos, my grandfather's medals, things acquired when I lived in China, signed first edition books, records, and other family treasures we hoped to pass on to our daughters. Things passed down from generation to generation in our families. We were the keepers of all this after our parents had passed away.

This fundraiser can't replace any of that. But it will help us set up a new "home" in every sense of the word.

Despite the challenges, we feel grateful and fortunate to have made it out safely and are hopeful about regaining stability and writing the next chapter.