Help JPL & Roman & HabWorlds teammates in Pasadena

We are raising money to assist friends of ours who are displaced or have lost their homes to the Pasadena fires.

We are a team of scientists, engineers, and technologists who are fortunate to be working on NASA's great flagship missions -- JWST, Roman, and the future Habitable Worlds Observatory -- as part of dedicated and cohesive teams that include valued colleagues from JPL, IPAC, Carnegie, Caltech, and other institutions affected by the fires. Many of our colleagues are suffering the effects of these fast-moving fires. Teamwork is one of our great virtues in this work, and we want to support our Pasadena colleagues through this crisis.

Our identity and goals: This GoFundMe was started and is being managed by Jason Tumlinson, an Astronomer at STScI in Baltimore. I am a member of the HabWorlds collaboration with many valued colleagues in Pasadena who have been affected by the Eaton fire. I am managing this effort with participation and advice from other members of the our collaboration and its friends with SoCal contacts (e.g. John O'Meara, Marc Postman, Giada Arney, Grant Tremblay).

Intended Beneficiaries:

The funds raised will be distributed to team members and their families who have experienced material loss or significant displacement. We aim to have an immediate impact for affected collaborators, with emphasis on their urgent needs for temporary housing, meals, and replacements of lost clothing or other essential items. With the situation evolving so quickly, we have not yet composed a complete list of beneficiaries. We request that anyone at JPL/IPAC/Caltech affected by the fire contact the organizer (jasontumlinson at gmail) to let us know their needs. Co-organizer Grant Tremblay is keeping a list of affected colleagues, please reach out to him to place yourself or someone you know on the list (granttremblay at gmail). We are especially interested in assistance to students, postdocs, and other early career researchers who may have less in financial resources to weather this crisis. Again please reach out to one of us to place yourself or another colleague on our list. Note: Support from this effort is NOT limited to specific projects, missions, or institutions. We are open to our teammates across JPL, IPAC, Caltech, etc.

Plan for disbursement: We commit to full use funds to benefit the categories of beneficiaries described above. We will adapt to their needs with gift cards for hotels, grocery stores, clothing, and other essential items, paid for by the organizers by collected funds. The exact form of disbursement will be tailored to individual needs.