What’s the best way to help LA fire victims? Think before you donate.
What’s the best way to help LA fire victims? Think before you donate.
Just southeast of where the Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,000 structures, the YMCA is a hive of activity on a recent morning. A large group of volunteers forms a chain to unload boxes of donations from an Amazon truck. There are hundreds of volunteers on site, including residents from neighboring counties and from right next to burned out streets.
“We didn’t lose our home, but a lot of our friends did so we wanted to give something back,” said 11-year-old Winnie Newburg, who was giving out pet food and supplies at the donation site.
The back patio of the YMCA is dotted with islands of canned food, toys, and bedding. AJ Placencia wandered around, looking to replace things that he, his wife and two-year-old son lost in the fire, including toy cars and dinosaurs.
He also looked for essentials he’ll need when he can get out of the emergency shelter where he and his family have been staying.
“I’m trying to find a mattress but I can’t seem to find one here,” he said.
Donations have been pouring in for victims of the wind-fueled fires that burned through Los Angeles neighborhoods earlier this month, destroying thousands of homes and displacing entire communities.
Placencia and the other fire victims I spoke with said they’re grateful for all the help they’re getting — including for little things like snacks and toothbrushes and eye cream. Many of them lost everything.
But some donated items are more useful than others.
“The biggest need that I’m hearing from my constituents is direct cash aid,” said State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez, who was at the donation site and represents the area impacted by the Eaton Fire.
“Cash assistance really gives my constituents the flexibility to address whatever pressing needs that they may have at that moment,” she said. “A lot of times that need might be housing … it might be food for the children.”
What fire victims and donation centers don’t seem to need more of is used clothing.
Driving west on Sierra Madre Boulevard from the YMCA, five pop-up donation sites appear within about a mile — on the porches of businesses, outside of the supermarket. In front of a local funeral home, used clothing is piled high on folding tables. Some of it, including a poofy white wedding dress, is strewn across the sidewalk.
“I’ve seen pallets of clothing just left outside in a parking lot for months after some disasters because there’s no place to put it, people don’t have resources to sort it,” said Drew Hanna, who directs disaster relief operations in the western U.S. and Pacific islands for the aid group Team Rubicon.
Hanna said clothing donations can be especially difficult to handle.
“That is countless hours of work to navigate by, you know, volunteer agencies. By survivors themselves to navigate the piles and piles of donated clothing,” he said.
Hanna said a lot of donations after disasters, unfortunately, end up in the landfill.
A better approach, he and others said, is to contact donation centers or check their social media to find out exactly what’s needed. Or give money to a trusted relief organization that knows how to put it to good use.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
