Support Lina and Joseph to Recover After Eaton Fire

Hello! My name is Kirsten and I am starting this fundraiser on behalf of my best friends Lina and Joseph McCormick-Morin. They just returned from their honeymoon two weeks ago, and today learned that their house and everything they owned have been lost in the Eaton Canyon Fires.

The loss of their home is truly a loss to their entire community. Lina and Joseph valued creating a home where their friends and family could gather. They took every opportunity to use that home for celebrations — birthdays, babies, holidays, summertime, anything that could bring people together to share a little life together.

Both Lina and Joseph were music lovers, and Joseph has lost instruments and his mixing consoles, along with their lifetime collection of records. Lina is an avid letter writer and photographer, and has lost cherished letters she has collected since she was a little girl and irreplaceable photographs of her father who passed away when she was 19. Lina moved to Altadena to rebuild her life after a challenging separation, so everything that she brought with her was what she truly loved and what she needed, what she had curated over her lifetime.

She never had a lot of money, but she was resourceful. She could spot a beautiful piece of furniture worth cherishing at a garage sale or a thrift store. She worked in various nonprofits throughout her adult life, meanwhile, curating and designing her home to make sure that it could continue the legacy of her parents: creating a home that was a refuge.

Lina and Joseph both continue to work in the nonprofit industry to support the LA community at large, and as renters, they will not have any payout for their home. Right now, they are staying with Lina's mother in her 1-bedroom back house. Their most pressing need is to find a new home where they can live with their two cats, catch a moment to breathe, and then they will be able to better assess their needs.

Last Friday, Lina told me that she was doing a “No Buy 2025” for household goods and clothes. She told me that she had everything she needed and wanted. On Wednesday, she sent me a photo of her home, burnt to nothing. It was hard to see what once was through the smoke and ash. It’s even harder to process all that was lost. They are still in disbelief that they have lost everything, so please lift them up in community and contribute however you are able. Sharing this fundraiser to spread the word would mean a lot.