Southern California Wildfire Relief Fundraiser

This GoFundMe is organized by members and California natives, Zack Lopez and Hayley Oliver, of the Spotify podcast The World As We Know It. Those we contacted were guests on our show for what we thought was going to be an ordinary recording day. But when we heard about the fires and heard that they impacted our guest we had to help. Donations to this GoFundMe are setup to go directly to the American Red Cross and provide immediate needs and essentials to help get those affected back on their feet.

Like so many, we didn't anticipate this devastation. Neither did we expect that it would impact any of our guests. But, disasters tend to bring people together in unexpected ways. The day before we interviewed Hoku, she lost her family home.

After welcoming Hoku Matalasi Canto onto our show, we knew that she was now family and we felt it was our duty to help, even if the help was small.

When Hoku saw her family home gone, Hoku, a Fire Knife Dancer, who performed in many events in the Polynesian community, saw fire’s potential to bring life, but also to take it away. She had just welcomed her beautiful daughter Riley into the world and her Fire Knife performances for her community helped sustain her family. When she saw her family home gone, she looked across her street and thought “I performed here.” She lived there with her family Roque, Liz and Matthew in Altadena for 27 years. Her neighbor Jessica grew up with her since she was four.

Hoku connected us with more stories from those affected in her community by the fires, including the Pinto family.

The Pinto Family watched from their rooftop while the deadly fire crawled over the horizon, burning a path towards their home of 20 years. At 3 a.m., they decided to evacuate. Fallen trees blocked the exit from their cul-de-sac. But in times like these, a neighborhood in Altadena came together with chainsaws at the ready to clear a path.

The aftermath of the destruction could have been the set for an apocalyptic horror movie. Chimneys carving across the sky, creating a scene that looked like it could have been from a horror movie set in Chernobyl.

No amount is too small, anything helps. Please, help us make a difference and help us keep the help going until this community and city is restored.