Support Graham, Evelynn, Abigail, and Emilia After Fire

Hey Everyone:

It's Graham, Evelynn, Abigail and Emilia. We are all safe and super grateful for everyone that has reached out to ask us how they can help.

On January 7, a brush fire broke out in Eaton Canyon in Altadena, CA, where we live(d). The fire was fueled by a wind storm, with gusts over 100 mph. The fire exploded, and destroyed most of our community, including our home. The fire also destroyed Emilia's school (Abbi's school is ok thus far - we're awaiting more updates).

We lost power around 3:30pm, and given the location, our cell service was spotty. We knew a huge wind storm was coming, so we had shut all the shutters in the house in case projectiles broke glass. We got a knock on the door from two neighbors at about 6:30, telling us that a fire had broken out in Eaton Canyon. When Graham went to throw our "go bag" in the car, he saw that the mountainside close to us was ablaze and very large. It was only about 5 minutes between the time our neighbors knocked and when we left our home for the last time. We brought our important documents, the clothes on our backs, our phones, our cat, and our car.

We are lucky to have friends and family that support us, and we were able to quickly find a place to stay for the night. We learned early this morning (Jan 8) from neighbors that our home had completely burned to the ground. We don't expect to be able to salvage anything beyond what we took with us. A lifetime of possessions is gone, but we are safe and we have each other, and we are holding on to that.

As some of you may know, one of the impacts of the climate crisis is that home insurance companies have cut and run from California, and in March 2024, our home insurance provider deemed our home no longer insurable. This happened to so many of us. We got insured by the California FAIR plan, which covers the dwelling, and then a "wraparound" policy which covers the belongings, but the cost of this is so steep that we were definitely under-insured, and with the scope of this catastrophe we have no idea what we will end up with at the end of this process, which we anticipate to be long.

So many of you have reached out volunteering to help, asking what you can do, and we love and appreciate each one of you. At this point we honestly don't know. We've been able to locate temporary housing through Jan 18th, which likely makes us more fortunate than most.

We hate to ask for money, however we are so grateful to all those who have asked how they can help us, and while we are still figuring it all out, we know everything will cost money, so here we are. We know there are others who are in greater than need than us, and we encourage you to seek out ways to aid and support the communities affected. We will be in touch with you on other ways we could use help and support, but for now, this is all we've got. We love you all. Take care of each other.