Help Courage Rebuild his Life... and Altadena

I’m an Indigenous resident of Altadena named Courage Escamilla and I’d do anything for my beautiful loving town. For almost four years I’ve worked in this preciously humble community as a filmmaker and a voice actor amongst other things.

My entire life has been one existentially devasting trial after another spending my whole childhood in isolation from other kids in a bigoted area, to then being a caregiver for my terminally ill father for seven years, then spending 3-5 years homeless in Los Angeles trying to be an actor and then losing my mother to covid in 2020 after she had sacrificed everything for me. The next year is when I found this town, and I was happy.

Then on January 7th the Eaton fire devastated 7,000 homes and businesses destroying literally my entire town. My heart hasn’t stopped breaking into pieces every single day. It was the cruelest hand I’ve ever seen dealt to a community that couldn’t possibly have deserved it less. I loved every single person in Altadena and I can’t stand to see this happen to them. Only 100 homes survived, mine was one of them. But like everyone else, I’m unhoused for months to a year without the chance for work and few resources but like my community, I’m staying strong.

This town has been there for me from our local Filmmakers group, to the local Indigenous Danza group, to our Altadena Pride festival that would have had its fourth annual this year. I need support; I need a resource to keep me afloat so I can use every waking moment to fight with them in the next one to two years, as well as provide for my loss of income from losing my home/work. Anything is appreciated, which is what this is all about. Gratitude. I am not going to abandon my community because they gave me a community and never let me feel alone. I am Altadena Strong.

Courage Escamilla