Let's say good morning now to SOLA Foundation's founder, Sherry Francis.
Good morning, Sherry, Amy, thanks for having me on.
So so happy to have you here, because you guys are doing some great work. Before we dive into the event that's happening this weekend called Together We Rebuild, can you tell people a little bit about what SOLA Foundation is and does.
SOLA Foundation is the affiliated nonprofit of Sola Impact, which is an affordable housing developer throughout La And essentially we work towards providing access to education, to opportunity to jobs to really just elevate and assist with overall wellbeing of the communities, the most vulnerable communities rather in La.
Okay, so you're already doing great work and have been doing it for several years, and then the wildfire's hit, and so while you continue to do all of that great work, you're also shifting focus to help the people who've been affected by the wildfires. So tell us about what you've been doing and then what you're doing this weekend.
To help out well through the campaign Together We Rebuild. We feel that we need to be committed to working to help rebuild La. We started unanticipated with a phone call from a Altadena school called Rosebud Academy that was desperate to find a home temporarily after the devastation of losing their school. They called us and said, hey, we hear that you have a tech center at the Behad campus. Is there any way that you could house us for
a while. And we took in one hundred and fifty kids transform the space and overweeken and from pre k all the way through eighth grade, and we had the kids in the space for a little just about two weeks, and fortunately they were able to find a more permanent home closer home. But that really ignited the idea that we should be and could be doing a lot more.
We are still standing, and so we decided that this weekend we would put out an SOS So tomorrow we're bringing together over sixty partners who including the Red Cross,
BMO core Master. It's bigger than us, and we're providing a day for folks who've been affected by the fires to come to the Behive campus not only to have a good time with all the experiences for adults and kids, but also take home both tangible really needed resources like brand new clothes, essentials, gift cards, furniture, but also what I think vital is education and information on how to
navigate and receive financial assistance and how the support. So we have housing housing providers who are ready to sign people up. We have organizations like the Red Cross and Better Angels who are going to be on the spot providing financial assistance, checks, gift cards. And we really wanted to be a holistic experience, so we've were setting up a spa for massages and haircuts and beauty treatments, a kid's carnivals so kids can come and win great prizes.
We have toys for tots and Mattel donating a lot of toys for kids, and so we really expect the day to be a day of reprieve, a day of recovery, a day of resources, and we invite any families or individuals who've been impacted by the fires to come to
the behive. It takes place from ten am. We're kicking it off with a gospel brunch, which is a lot of fun, and then the vendor villages and the shopping experiences, the food court, all of that opens at eleven o'clock four and at four for those that want to stick around, we have a benefit show that includes comedians, artists, musicians to wrap up the day.
I love that, So not only are you having a productive day, but also maybe a break because again we've said several times that it feels like a lot of us are moving on who weren't directly affected by the fires, but for you know, ten twelve, thirteen thousand homes, their lives are not back to normal and won't be for a very long time. And I'm imagining that it's incredibly stressful trying to navigate where you go and what you do. Even though we're a month and a half out. It's a long road.
It's a long road and years right for that matter. But if we can provide this day, one of the things that we've heard from multiple people, it's been a while since I've smiled. We want to bring smiles to their faces, to the kids' faces, and this is the first mini we plant. We've got. It's a good problem to have, but we've had so many partners who want to come out and help throughout LA and so we know that we have to continue this because there's a lot of opportunity and a lot of work to be done.
Quite frankly, Okay.
So it's a day of recovery and resilience. Together we rebuild, and it's tomorrow starting at ten am from ten to four at the Beehive, which is at one thousand East sixtieth Street in La So, if you know anybody affected or if you are directly affected by the fires, what a great place to go and spend your Saturday. And then I also wanted to ask you real quick, Sherry, what do you guys still need and how can we help?
We would love more volunteers. We've got a lot of great folks who are signed up on our website Thesolo Foundation dot org. Anyone who's interested in volunteering or supporting, it's all there, but we really want to make sure we get the word out and get to them that have been most affected. And we also are providing free transportation from the Alpadina and Pasadena areas. So all of that information lives right now on that website, the Solo Foundation dot org.
Doing great work. Solo Foundation founder Shery Francis, thank you so much for coming on and tell your friends because it's a day of recovery and resilience and a whole lot of fun too. Tomorrow ten to four.
Thank you Amy, Thanks Sherry,