Help the Head Family After Wildfire Loss

Hi, my name is Sofia Head, and I am a resident of the Pacific Palisades. On Tuesday, I lost my home and everything inside due to the Palisades wildfire.

I have suffered from hypersomnia for as long as I can remember, and on Tuesday morning I slept through all the evacuation alarms and was home alone. I woke up around two and a half hours after my area was forced to evacuate by flames crawling up my street. All I could think about was, How am I going to make it out here alive? In that moment, my options were close to none given that no one was here to get me; I don't have a license, and I couldn't make a run for it without leaving my two dogs or having a severe asthma attack due to the smoke conditions. I ran outside barefoot and spotted my sister's car, which she left at the house. Without thinking twice, I took my two dogs and got behind the wheel. By the grace of God, I was able to make it to my best friend's house down the road, where she and her family then took me in, and we all safely evacuated together. However, I was unable to grab a single possession of mine or my family's and only left with myself and my two chihuahuas.

Moving to the Pacific Palisades was a new beginning for my family and me. Two weeks before entering 11th grade (around 3 years ago), my family and I were locked out of our lifelong family home in Santa Monica without access to any of our possessions and were subsequently displaced for a year and a half. As I understand it, it had to do with predatory mortgage practices, but my parents try to shield my sister and me from financial matters, so I am left with no explanation as to why the home I knew and loved was taken away from me overnight. When we finally got this rental home in the Palisades around two years ago, we felt like we could finally rebuild. Our life there was beautiful, and I finally felt like our sense of normalcy was coming back, and we slowly rebuilt what we had lost. This was all up until Tuesday afternoon.

Losing everything once was something I never fathomed would happen again, and I am so devastated for my community, friends, and family that are going through this loss as well. With that being said, we didn't have renters insurance and now have less than what we started with. My parents are two of the most hardworking and loving people I know, and it breaks my heart that these tragic events have affected them consecutively. Therefore, I've set up this GoFundMe on their behalf in hopes of restoring a piece of what they have lost and giving them support during this hard time, once again.

I lived in our Pacific Palisades home for around two years, and I have never been more in love with a community, environment, and place. My heart is with all of my loved ones who have also gone through this same loss, as well as the greater Palisades community. I am devastated at this tragedy and am praying for all of the homes, animals, and sentimentals that were lost in these fires.

Thank you so much for reading. I don't expect anything, but truly anything will help; nothing is too small.

With Love,

Sofia