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Oh, welcome to Vitamin D Live. I'm your host.
Down like the break of day, and I am so excited to have each and every one of you with me. Get ready for a riveting conversation. I am in the studio right now. I am broadcasting live on Facebook. We're on LinkedIn and I'm also set up my IG live Brandon waiting for me to accept the request. I'm waiting on you to recept request. So I have a very special guest. He is the Pasadena INAC president, and we're gonna be talking about what's happening in Pasadena and Altadena area.
We know that the wildfires have been ravaging all the way through, so I said, let's bring the.
News and information to you. Let's talk to somebody that's.
On the ground making it work, making the impact, so we can see what kind of resources people need. Plus, I've been teasing this guest. His name is Roland Wiley. He is a I don't want to say past or previous resident, but a resident of the Pasadena Alta Dina area that has been displaced.
Now.
He was supposed to join right at five, but be due to the fact of traveling trying to get stuff together.
He said, Dawn, I'm gonna call in.
Later so we can pull up on the conversation, and I want to invite you as well. Make sure that you take note of the number in the studio if you would like to call for any comments. It's eight one, eight four sixty one fifty four to thirty two. That's eight one, eight four, six one fifty four to thirty two. And if you are tuning in on Facebook or LinkedIn, I have provided the link for you to join us live.
Okay, so get ready for this rivenon conversation.
I'm talking about twenty seven people have been noted to have been killed, fourteen thousand structures have been destroyed.
That's over sixty square feet.
Miles and millions upon millions and even generations of lives have been impacted. So family, without further ado, please help me. Welcome Brandon Lamar. Hello there, Brandon, how you doing? Let me see can.
You hear me now?
Yes?
Oh kamen, yes I can hear you. Thank you so much.
So you have been on the ground, running, running and rolling. You have really been putting forth the effort with the Dina Relief Drive. And as we are here, I want you to share with everyone about what's going on in Pasadena Altadena area and what's information you want to share with share with the folks.
Yeah, So there's been a lot of stuff that we've been doing with the Deaner Relief Drive.
First, can you introduce yourself and how you've been impacted about the fall wildfires.
Yeah, so my name is Brandon Lamar, born and raised in the past and Alta area. My grandparents has had a church in Altina for the past since nineteen seventy seven, honestly, and so it's been a long history of being in the Altadena around Altina and my grandparents lived in Altina, my aunts living out my parents used to live in out Tina, of course, and so it's a long history
of Outa. I went to school in elementary's. I went to elementary school in Alzire and so it's a long history of our connection with the city of altd And so I am the passing the branch president of the NAACP. They literally just solidified it two days ago, and so it's amazing work that is happening within our communities and what we're trying to do here locally. And then also serve as the vice chair of the Rental Housing Board for the City of Pasaden as well.
Oh wow, So you really have your hands and the thick of everything about what's going on from a lot of angles, from being an actual resident to having families that have been impacted, as well as doing your community work there.
Absolutely, so two weeks ago.
Today is when it all started.
Two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, literally about ten days, it has all shifted for us, and it shifted in a way where we were It's a normal day and I'm on my way home from dropping off my dad and literally we get notifications that we had to evacuate because the fire just started eating canyon and that night it was about eighty miles an hour wind that had hit, and so it overnight. It took the fire literally a couple hours to go ten thousand acres, and our lives have changed since it.
So you you were awaken in the middle of the night when all of this happened.
I was actually on my way home from work from dropping off my dad and then work when the fire actually started. But the out of residents I actually living passing the outing and residents were awaken two and three o'clock in the morning to evacuate out of their home because the fire had spread it that quickly, and some
people didn't have any time to put on clothes. We had a lady who came to our drive and she literally showed up in her car with a T shirt and underwear that she had on from running out of her car because this I mean running out of her house because the Sheriff's department actually had knocked on her door because the fire literally was on her roof, and so they would banging on her door to get out, and she only had time to get her keys and
runt her car and drive away. And so when we started to drive, she was one of our first people that showed up to the drive with her t shirt and underwear on.
And I'm sure she's not the only one. There's so many other people who just grab whatever they could grab at the moment and knew that they had to get it out.
Of the house.
Absolutely. Absolutely, There's so many stories that has been told from family members to friends that lost everything right and they just had to get up and go. Literally majority of them had to leave between two and three o'clock in the morning because that's how fast the fire had spread it. So if you look at it in Palisades, it took Palisades fire between three to four days to get to ten thousand acres. It took the Eating Kenyon fire less than six or seven hours to get to
ten thousand acres. And that's how that is fast it spreaded.
Now you may mention that you have aunts and relatives. Was your childhood home burned down in Altadena?
Yeah, it's gone. Where we used to living outside it is gone. It's gone. The corner where my grandparents had their church is gone. My elementary school, Edison Elementary School is gone. My middle school for the middle schools burned down at Elliott Middle School. That's gone. A lot of my neighbors, homes of the community as a kid where I grew up, it's gone. Liquor stores, grocery stores, neighborhood stores, black businesses are gone. Banks are gone, churches are gone.
There's so many things that are not there anymore.
I'm so sorry to hear that at this moment, at this time. What made you starter? How did you start the Dina Relief Drive? And I've seen your social media. Everybody has been talking about the work that you have been doing in a coalition to others. In fact, I was just speaking with Derek Steele and said, Hey, you need to talk to Brandon.
You need to talk to him about what's going on.
Yeah, that's my boy. He's been helping since day one.
But literally how it took place is Wednesday night. I actually drove up myself in the neighborhood across Altadena, and things were still on fire, but some way I was able to finesse and get around law enforcement and the fire department and so many other people that blocking streets, and I saw firsthand homes were still on fire, Schools were still on fire, homes were completely destroyed and gone, and fire was still coming out of home from the gas pipes. And I witnessed that with my own eyes.
Literally the smoke was so thick to where you couldn't even see literally your hand in front of your face, which is how thick the smoke was. It was like a bomb blue in the city of Altadena. And so that night I got home because I actually had took my family to Ontario, my wife and my mother in law and my sister and them. They stayed in hotel
and I actually stayed home with the humidifier here. And so after helping family and friends evacuate and stuff like that, and I got home late that night, about midnight, And when I woke up the next morning, the first person I called was Michelle White, who was the executive director for Neighborhood Servants, and I told her, I said, hey, I don't know purple.
No okay, okay.
Yeah that's what that's Michelle from SEIU twenty fifteen.
Okay, yes, okay, okay, my pologies, please go ahead.
All good, All good. So Michelle White from Neighborhood Servants, and I said, Michelle, we have to do something. It to go like it's a green light. We got to do something for our community. That was at nine o'clock in the morning at so we was like, hey, there's needed, we need a location nine thirty. I called Josh was the executive director from Flintridge and he was like, yes, absolutely, like y'all can do that today. So he said he's going to be there at ten o'clock. I showed up
at ten o'clock. By eleven o'clock that same morning, we had one hundred and fifty volunteers to help us. We had pallettes and pallettes of items that were being donated to us. Literally within an hour of us doing a simple post online on Instagram, it turned into something that was literally crazy. So since that Thursday, we have service today over three thousand families. Now we have given out
over forty thousand dollars worth of gift cards. We have hosted over one thousand volunteers to support families, and even this past weekend, we had free haircuts for our young people and our families. We had free massages for our families that was affected. We had free chiropractor services for families that were affected, and with sciu Won twenty one that provided health screenings for families that was affected by
this fire as well. And then we saw another need that yes, we were doing this at this location, but the fire actually started in East Pasadena, and so we decided to partner with Passing the Church pastor Kurlin Manny, and we just started doing the same thing at Passing the Church on the east side so that the people in that community can actually get the same support that we were doing in Northwest Pasadena.
Oh my goodness. And what about mental health services? Are you guys providing resources or options for that as well?
We are providing resources to mental health services on site. We had about I think it was four license clinical mental health professionals that was there on site to new family check ins with family people, and then for those that needed more support, we did do some referral outs and so yeah, it's been a world wind of support, but then also to be honest, don we're still at
the emergency stages of it right. People haven't even really comprehended in the totality of what just took place, because that's the type of emergency that we were We were just in. So people are still getting their necessities that they need, and they get in the essentials that they need right now, and I don't think it really has hit home the damage that has really been done to
our community. Literally ninety percent, I would say eighty five to ninety percent of a city is actually gone at this moment.
I have another guest in here who's actually been affected. I made mentioned to him earlier. His name is Roland Wiley, who's a resident in the Pasadena Altadena area who has been displaced. And I really want this to be a free going conversation where you know, you guys piggyback or forth, because what I really want to do is bring awareness to this. I don't want this to be something like, oh this happened. All the era is fine. People are fine.
We've donated with the long terms effects and really have a grassroot feel. So without further ado, I would like to welcome our one and only.
Roland Wiley to the program.
Hi Roland, Hi, y'all.
Brandon, thank you for bringing up the very point that's been on my mind throughout this entire time. It's that, like he said, between eighty ninety percent of a city is gone, it's displaced. I mean, we've got people friends of mine that I mean, I'm a long, long standing Altadena resident of forty plus years, and I have friends that have been displaced as far as Riverside to Mecula,
Ontario and all points far east. And it's it's difficult because being that far away from our home, I mean, Altadena is forever my home.
It's hard because it's adjusting to not being a homeowner anymore.
Now you're being a renter and trying to figure out places that will fit within your budget. And like Brandon said, it's like, I'm so grateful for his relief services that have been throughout thepacity the Altadena area because those have helped me and my family as well.
Hello.
Oh yeah, yes, absolutely, And just really quickly with both of you on right now, from the perspective of someone who has been affected and doing the work and versus someone that has been to displaced, do you feel that the media, the people, there's some misconceptions because done.
We can't hear you on the live shoam.
Oh okay, can you hear me now?
Yeah?
Okay, yeah, now you're in.
There, all right? Perfect.
My question was I love the fact that we have both of you on here somebody that has been.
I mean, we've all been affected, honestly.
But you're on one end where you're providing the support and rolling you're on the other end where you're actually needing the support. Are there any misconceptions or are there any messages that you want people to know about what has happened, what is happening, and maybe some fears of what we need to prepare in the future.
Gosh, I would say, well, what is happening is just massive displacement of a city is first and foremost, and the age range is so wide. I mean, when I was at the Pasadena Convention Center Wednesday morning to see people that were convalescent and in their wheelchairs or in their night gowns and being escorted to the convention center, I mean, my heart drops because I think about.
These elderly people that are whether.
They're ambulatory meaning that they can walk or nonambulatory, meaning that they have to be in a wheelchair and someone.
Has to escort them.
That's a challenge because being in the convention center, the things that they may need are really not readily available. And luckily there has been a turn within the past gosh, it feels like it's been so long, but in the past week or so that accommodations have been made and they've been provided and sent to other locations that could really help them right now, because that's a really big part.
And places like the Pasenia Convention Center, places like PCC along with the Passia City College Community Center which is on the east side of Pasaden and towards like Sarah Madre Villa has FEMA there.
They have social Security there.
If you lost your Social Security card, if you lost your passport due to the fire, and I stressed due to the fire, because there have been people. Even I was there earlier today, people were like, well, I like to get a new passport, and everyone is telling them this is for people that lost their identification do the fires. So that is the main thing I want to convey these these resources are available for those that have been affected by the fire. Primarily, what I would say myths
that are going on. Gosh, I would say misconceptions right now. Of course, with tragedy comes people that prey upon those that are in need. So they're I mean, my mom has gotten calls from different spam numbers saying, oh, well, we heard that your roof was damaged.
And I'm like, well, it's not the roof.
Our higher block is decimated and it's gone, so we already know that to scam. We actually verified and questioned FEMA as we were over at past Meda City College today about certain phone numbers that we received, and they were able to confirm or verify or just let us know, hey,
that's not a legit number. So being really aware of that, I really want to emphasize that people, if they are able to get to these locations to seek help, get it that way because this reminds me of working during the pandemic, and the office I work for by day deals with unlawful evictions, homelessness prevention and things like that, So they're I mean, in that way, people were being
notified by email. However, Internet access is not readily available for people and during the pandemic that was a thing because I mean, I'm old school. If I don't have internet at home, I'm going to the library. But you couldn't get to the library or a coffee shop or things like that where you could get free Wi Fi or internet. So I encourage people to if you're in the Pasadena area, definitely find those resources. The Pasadena Convention
Center is one Pasadena City Colleges. Both campuses are available. Randon Lamar's Dina Relief is available. But go to these places, go physically in person, and talk to someone because that is how you will get the most help. Trying to do it online is stressful and I can't speak for anyone other than my mom and myself. We just shut down because it was just too much online because you're
not sure. You want to ask questions about the things that you're filling out, and the best way to do that is to make the time to go to these locations, to speak to.
Someone in person, and to be honest too, We don't want people to do this by themselves. Agree the tragedy has hit all of us, let me say that. And so you have people who don't know how to maneuver and don't know how to go through this process that are still trying to figure out this process and understand what in totality has happened. And so we really don't want people to go through this process by themselves, to get the support by themselves. I remember when FEMA first
came out. I've heard of a lot of people who had already gotten denied from FEMA when they first applied, and they had to go back in and apply and get services. And so we really don't want that to happen because also this is very emotional for a lot of people. It's tragic what has happened. And within the matter of moments, you had to leave your home, you have to find somewhere else to stay, you have to
drop everything. Some people left their pets, you left memories, you left pictures, you deft identification, like there's just so many things that people didn't have the chance to just grab a hold on and take with them. And so, you know, this is not a process that we want
people to go through by themselves. There is support out there, whether it be through the city, whether it be do the dener Relief Drive, whether it be through I know my church alone has helped over six hundred families with this situation with case Management Services, and so Victory Bible Church is here to help as well. But there's so many partners within our community that want to be of support.
But like I said before, don you know, I don't think that the real reality of what has taken place has really hit our community yet, because you still have a lot of family members and people who still have not seen out ta Dina. They news, but you still have people out there that don't even know if they're
house is standing or is it going. You know, you still have people out there that are still looking for missing family members right right, So the totality of this destruction has not really hit our community to me, and I'm.
Glad you highlighted that.
I know we've heard like many people who have already been notated as died, but I don't know if I've heard or maybe I've missed how many people were just injured, not only physically, not only mentally. And I'm just wondering not to put a blame game, but do you feel as though the city has shown up in the way that it should it could have, and do you feel comfortable how things will operate in the future.
If I can jump in there from the city side, of it. To be honest, there's only so much that the city can do because the majority of the damage was in an unincorporated area. So Altadena is not a part of Pasadena. Right. The fact that the emergency center is at the Convention Center is a partnership between the county and the city, right, And so the city is really only required to support and help Pasadena in Pasadena people, right. But Altadena as a whole is pretty much the city
that has actually gone. Altadena has a town council, but it does not have a city council. It does not have a health department, it does not have its own police department. It's like it's all ran through the county. So the services that is coming through to Altadena is actually from county services, which we know county services are
stretched stretched pretty thin. And so that's what brings a difference between what's happening and the need that is happening in this this era right now, is resources are really stretched. But I also want to say too that even when it comes to like responses, because I've heard a lot of people talk about you know, I've literally seen fires that started and it expanded and not a fire truck
fireman was around, right. But let me also say that even though we're hurt behind that the fire in La Counties, there was four fires at the same time. There was the palis Ase fire, there was Stilmar fire that was passing, an Eden Canyon fire, and there was another one that
I can't remember off the top of my head. But there was four fires that happened at the same time, which resources are stretched across our county because the wind was so strong those nights, right, and so literally not only was resources for the fire department stretch, but also we had hydrants that was running out of water, that did not have any more water for fire departments to actually fight these fires. So they're gone connected to the hydrants and they push all.
The water out.
They have no more water for the rest of the box, which is another issue that was happening. Right.
Does this sound crazy though insane?
Well, the thing is is, like I put it like this, It's like if we had a big old soda right in front of us, and you.
Brandon, me, my mom, and.
Several other people all have straws trying to drink from the same cup, there's not enough to go around. And that's exactly what happened. You had a scenario that could not have been compensated like this. It wasn't it wasn't a possibility. And I actually feel for the fire chief when he was saying that he failed us. I said, man, there there's nothing you could have done to prevent or prepare for this because it has never happened. It's the same thing like the pandemic four five years ago that
was unprecedented at least in our lifetime. And then to have all these fires happening at one time is I mean, the odds of it happening again, Lord Willing are too great. So that's where I mean I was talking with someone else. It's that the resources were there, however, they were stretched to an extent that has never been encountered before.
So this is not the time to point fingers to put a blame because it's not going to do anything. In fact, we're just wasting energy, wasting time to possibly outsource resources and just go on in circles.
But I guess one of.
Outcome, it's not going to change. It's not going to change the outcome. The outcome come, it's not going to bring those homes back. It's not going to bring. It's like it's not the time for it. The time right now is to work together and figure out how to get people in a better emotional place, a living space in all those things. Those are the things that are important right now. The fault issue is so far down the list. Right now, we just need to focus on the people right now.
And looking at Brandon, your news clip that you have on your Instagram page, I saw you may mention that you had people from all over the country that were either flying in or coming in with donating different products and resources. And you know, it's unfortunate that it is a circumstance like this to happen. But if we were to see the silver lining or the gin to the gang,
what screens out to me is community. And just as time and technology has advanced, we've gotten so far we've separated from one another, like we're close to rin but get so far apart. And the main thing, Roland, I think we had discussed this on a conversation that, like you said, I don't have time to be going on
the website, calling a number, speaking to an operator. I need to feel I need to see you, I need to experience you, and I think If anything, the beautiful thing about is that now we're getting back together, right.
Yeah, I mean for us, we really saw the response from the community in totality. Now, let me be at this and say, and I've set this to everybody's out on my sand it here. A lot of the attention was on palisades for a very long time, which y'all do, y'all stuff. I ain't got nothing against that, But at
the same time, Pasadena Al Sadina needs help. And for a long time we didn't get the news, press, we didn't get media, we didn't get any of that stuff because it was all on palisades for a very long time.
It wasn't until we actually started getting celebrities show up to our drives to say what's happening here and they started going on live and that from those moments is when seeing in ABC all these people start showing up to talk to families, When celebrities start showing up saying, hey, there's an issue in out Tadna and you know, we have to push the word out for ours. The first two celebrities that came to ours that pushed the word out was Afion Crocket and Trade the truth. They have
literally been on the ground running with us. I talked to Trade every day, I talked to Afion every day. They're asking us what we need? Can we put out something else that you guys need all this stuff, But those two people were the first two celebrities that really put out to Dina on the map when it came to relief and support. And then after that then people start to share their stories and news media starts to come and really see what the devastation was in out
to Dino. But even within that space of it, like I said before, we've gotten support from all across the United States. Not only just people saying how can we help, or people just flying in to volunteer and then they fly right back out, but we also had palllets of trucks that came in from Dallas, Texas, from Atlanta, Georgia, literally driving here to support these efforts. And so I think it's been a really it's been a community support thing.
But here's also my caution to that when we see stuff like that that happens, and this is my caution for our community, not for people outside of the community, but for our community. When we see stuff that happens like that, the truth of the matter is it only happens for so long, and it only lasts for so long. Emergency relief lasts for so long. Volunteers last for so long before they have to go back to their regular lives and their jobs and take care of their families
and things of that nature. And so as we have these volunteers that are helping, what we're really working on right now is long term solutions and long term goals for the community so that we can really maximize this opportunity, which we are trying to do in this moment with services and so many other things that has taking place, and so you know, we're even building on the community.
But also I like to mention is that at every last one of the drives that we've had, there has been people that homes have burnt down that still comes and serves their community. We literally have people every single day that we're at our Dina Drive the families that homes have burned down can't even get into their homes.
They have been at our drives serving back into their community because they don't want to be sitting up in the hotel room looking at the walls all day or trying to be on the phone with getting the wrap arounds and all that kind of stuff. They've literally been on our site serving their community. And that's the type of community that we have in the outsene the Passing area.
Yeah, to your point, Brandon, I remember because I was.
I was getting frustrated with that on the news broadcast too, because they were leading with the Palisades.
I'm like, what about Dina? What about Dina?
And it was strange because I remember seeing Afion Gosh, he was doing a live feed off of Mountain in Pasadena, and I was glad to see that because I was like, Okay, cool, someone is recognizing something other than the Palisades and it's not the throw shade. But I'm like, it's not the only thing going on right now.
Oh yeah, I mean important thing is about that too, man is I don't want to compare fires, I'm not doing that at all, But the Eating Canyon fire actually burned more structures than the Palisades fire. Palisades fires was more land. Eating Canyon fire was actually more structures and homes that was impacted by the Eating Canyon fire. You have. I think they said ten churches has burned down, five schools have burned down, and multiple, multiple small businesses that
are gone. I even talked to a gentleman today where his business burned down and he actually stayed on top on the next floor above his business, and so his business and his home is gone. And so I think the what we what we have to see here is so many people have been displaced from this, even within our elder community, our elder individuals who don't have family members to help them push, you know, keeping them and having them come back into our community. You know, they
need support as well. I spoke to somebody I was at a press conference and the eighty seven year old woman said that she's been in the civic center for seven days. And it told me to pieces, I'm like, all the churches that we have in our community, and you mean to tell me that this eighty seven year old lady was sitting up in the civic center all this time. And so I called Master and was like, we got to do something about this. Literally within five minutes,
we got her a place to stay. And so, you know, it's the community plays a big part in this. But going back to my original point, I don't really think that the community has really in totalitly felt or really realized how big of a devastation this has become.
Well see, and that brings up another point that I wanted to share as you were talking, because I think about especially like you were saying, the elderly, because they're I mean, there's that eighty seven year old woman, there's another ninety eight year old woman with her son who's in his seventies.
And and you with your mom.
Yeah, And I think about that because I wonder how is that going to play out for the city of Altadena. Are these elderly people going to return back to Altadena? And that's and that's yeah, And that's the question I've that's been kicking around.
In my head.
And when you mentioned that, Brandon, I was like, yeah, there are people that have I mean, they've lived like my mom has lived her entire life in Dina, And I mean I know that jointly we're going to return, but I can't imagine what that's like for someone that doesn't have the support because I mean, when they I mean, if it comes down to it, it, I mean, are they going to wait years for a home to be rebuilt or are they going to downsize and find assisted living or convalescent.
Things like that. I mean, those are the immediate things I think of.
And even when you talk about people were turning back, well, what does that look like? Because from my understanding, if you were paying a mortgage, you still are responsible for that.
So how are you supposed to.
Pay for that existing mortgage, let alone if you have to rent a place and it's been going around. I know there has been measures out to prevent this from happening, but we hear it about what the rent gouging looks like. So is this even put in place for people to come back or is this kind of like a period end of a sentence.
I mean, from what I'm seeing, it looks like the following. It's that, for example, we're still paying a mortgage, but we had to reach out to let them know, hey, there is nothing to pay a mortgage on.
There ain't nothing there.
So we are in the process of going through that so that we're not being not only incurring the past due balance for the month, but also telling them to provide a forbearance to us. Because I'm like, there's no way right now that that even makes sense. And that's another part of the hoops that you're talking about branding where it's like another hoop to jump through and another hoop to jump through, and that's its.
Own pay in the behind right now.
And then yeah, rent, I mean there was offers of people renting places, but my I mean I have a nine to five job, and that monthly, those two monthly checks along with whatever my mom gets on her fixed income, still couldn't cover it. And that's another challenge because now homeowners are back in the renters spot, and that is
a really unfortunate spot to be in. And I encourage people if they can reach out to their homeowners' insurance and find out if there's some type of extended stay or long term housing for at least six months that they can get that the.
Insurance will cover. Take it.
Because I don't know about you, but paying fifty four hundred a month on a two bedroom apartment is not feasible. It would we would have nothing to show for it at the end.
I'm looking at a comment from Derek Steele, from the executive director of the Social Justice Learning Institute, and he stated the tax Assessor's office is supposed to be reassessing homes for land rather than homes, and that will provide folks with the opportunity to renegotiate their loans, something that he's heard.
Yeah, that is something that we're working on right now with Jeff Frame's office, the La County Assessor is making sure that that happens, but also making sure that we fight with our local, state and federal legislators to make sure that they put a pause on mortgage payments right now. Because you cannot pay your mortgage payments and pay for a hotel right or or even pay your mortgage and pay for long term temporary housing like a lease of
an apartment until you built your home again. It doesn't make any sense and it's not feasible, and it's and it's interesting because, like, let's be very honest, this is happening to the black community. Come on, yes, and this is happening to families that homes have been here for generations.
When we couldn't even buy a home, let alone had a place so we could be safe and lay our head.
And then this absolutely and and and in Pasadena, red lining was a thing. And the community in al Aadena that has burnt down was the community that many blacks have gone to because of red lining. In the City of Pasadena, right. That was my mom when so many people was moved away from the seventeen stuff. Those people went to Northwest Pasadena and they went to North Altadena, right,
which is the community that has been burnt down. And so I think we have to talk about the history of it, of redlining, but we also have to talk about that this is generational wealth that has been impacted into our community, into a community that was actually about eighteen percent black two weeks ago. And now if you take all those people, if they don't move back here, then that community would only be one to two percent black now. So those are the conversations that we really
have to have. Those are the conversations that we have to have in order to put pressure on elected officials and on our community members to say, hey, y'all, Altaanina is not for sale. You can't buy yourself into Altanina. We don't want multi units to be built on land that was single family home for generations. We want single family homes to be in those areas so that people can actually live there and rebuild their homes the way they wanted to be rebuilt.
Because Altadena has been known for decades as a bedroom community, and I mean there are very few or were very few apartments in the Altadena area because it was known as a bedroom community. My mom was one of those that moved Altadena because of the redlining situation.
And I mean even on our block.
It's that there were about four original neighbors that were still on our block that I grew up with. Everyone else had changed or moved. So yeah, the greater question is are they returning. But also at the same time, we got to fight for it. I mean Altadena, I mean I say it.
Alcadna is our home. That's our home, right.
We were in Pasadena, then we got gently pushed quote unquote.
Into Alcadena and we made that hours and we can't let this push us out again.
Yeah, I'm just go ahead.
There's also so many people, just to mention, there's so many groups like Derek Still and SJLI and like literally so many organizations from Inglewood showed up on Saturday to support passing out in the efforts saying, hey, y'all, we fighting with y'all. We ready to rebuild with y'all. We want to help y'all to rebuild. This is not something that they coming in here trying to lead. This is something that they're following our lead behind, saying hey, we
want to maximize your voice. We want to literally lift up what you guys are doing. And so that that's what is going to take for us. I mean this is this isn't an entire city, y'all. An entire city is gone, and so it's going to take multiple efforts for us to rebuild this entire city.
Is like, I'm a little frustrated.
I said, we got to do this out as a community because ain't no one else going to do it for us.
Ain't nobody taking care of Ain't nobody coming to save ourselves but ourselves.
That's all we got to step into. That whole notion is for us and by us.
And that's why we're so happy to hear even Derek was saying this, and just how you've echoed in Brandon, even you Roland just yesterday of speaking how we are going to have to lock hands with one another. We're gonna have to get back to the times that we didn't got in the circle. We didn't have these conversations about what we need, who's looking after who, who's taking care of our children, who's taking care of our elderly people. Who is taking care of the people that we need
because we can't expect somebody on the outside. Now, something else that I think that needs to be addressed. What are we gonna do about in the future, well outa dina once it's rebuilt, or what we're doing to ensure that it's no longer unincorporated, to ensure that we have a firehouse, to ensure we have whatever resources one needs in the community, because clearly this is a hazard zone when it comes to wildfires, right, this is not a secret.
Who do we need to talk to for somebody.
That may not be so politically intelligent of knowing who the officials are, knowing about the legislations, knowing about the bills.
Where does a regular, average Joe, average Jane.
Start supervisor's office, county supervisor are a supervisor in Altadena area? It's Katherin Barger And I mean, yeah, we have a town council, but the supervisors is what has the power in Altadena past. Altadena has always been a red zone. And what I mean by that is you cannot light fireworks in Altina because there's so many trees, right, there's so many trees in al Tandina. We're that close to the mountains and so you cannot light fireworks up there.
There's a lot of stuff that you can do. Because it's a red zone when it comes to fires, there's not as many fire stations that it should be. Fire stations are very small within themselves as well. But you know, I think at the end of the day, if you want to advocate for that, you first have to go to the supervisors.
I agree, because I mean I can easily name both the fire stations.
It's eleven and twelve.
Twelve was a blockdown for me, and eleven is off of Mariposa and El Molino.
Yep.
Also, do you feel as though, like FEMA and a lot of resources that have been sent by the government, are they doing the job and they're showing.
Up in the ways that we would expect them to.
From what our experience has been. Yes. In fact, it was interesting.
You should mention that Brandon Katherine Barker actually approached me when I was at PCC and she wanted feedback, like, how is this working for you? I said, I'm grateful that FEMA is on the ground and we can apply in person, because that helped soothe a lot of worry and stress that my mom and I were experiencing. And to have that personal connection of talking to someone and even interjecting jokes here and there made that process a
whole lot better than what it could have been. And that's the important part, is that the personal connection is important right now, impersonal connection and I've had some on the phone experiences with this.
People will ask, we'll do the usual script.
I tell them what happened, and it's heard, but it's not received, and then by the end of the conversation, Okay, have a great day. I'm like, I ain't having a great day, and you just made it worse because they're not mindful. They're not reading the room, they're they're not truly listening to me. They're just hearing sound and waiting for a pause and jumping in and doing whatever they're doing. So the actually, I would say, the active listening is
a really important thing. And FEMA showed up. We found out through and I'll be honest with you, we had the hustle on this one. My mom has her insurance and she reached out to the agent probably the second day that we were in the hotel, and the phone just kept ringing, and I told my mom, I said, is there anyone else that you know that knows your insurance, like someone that works for that same insurance company?
And she started brainstorming. She's like, Oh, that's right. And there's a food.
Bank that she was helping out at a church that was unfortunately lost in the fire in Altadena. That's Fountain of Life off of Fair Oaks, And she reached out to those two women, and those two women put her in touch with another phone number that got us to find out that there were mobile centers throughout the area. So we went to that mobile center and we're able
to process that and get that done. However, if it weren't for my mom's connection to the community, she would not have had that and I would not have been able to help her with that other than trying to dig online on the internet and try to find a backwards the way to get in.
Now, what about you, Brandon, what would you say on the end of the other end, as far as helping others, providing resources.
Making a way.
What is it that you see that you even need from your support? Do you find it more beneficial if people donate directly to those who have been directly affected, such as it go fundme or send over monies to Red Cross and with FEMA and so forth.
Maybe I shouldn't say this on here, but I'm gonna say it anyway. I think Red crossing FEMA has enough money. They've been doing this for a very long time, and they have a track record of supporters who already support them.
So that's that I think. What you I think what needs to happen is people who know people donate to those gofundmes, and we have a list of trusted gofund me accounts because also I have friends who wanted to create go fundmes for their families and they couldn't because some fake person created gofundmes with the house.
On them shut the front door.
Yeah, this is how this was happening. The same day it started, the fire started. So if you're going to donate to a GoFundMe, make sure you get that link from the person that you're donating to or trusted individual that you trust, because there are fake accounts, and I mean those fake accounts were upward of twenty thousand dollars in them, and so just be mindful of that, right and then the organizations that I that I trust is the flint Ridge Center locally and Neighborhood Servants locally in
the city of Pasadena. Those are the organizations that I trust that are supporting the efforts that we're doing with the Dena relief drive. And then also if you're in the LA area and you're looking for organizations that you trust. S j l I is one of Social Justice Learning Institute with there still there direct partners to us and they're they've been supporting us from the ground literally, and
so if that's also an option for you. I always tell people, tap into the people that you trust, tapp into the organizations that you trust, because the people in the organizations that you trust are connected to the people that are in need. So and then also I always tell people as well that make sure you do your homework, especially in disasters, groups come out the woolworks. Everybody got a group, now, Alighty got to drive Now, it comes
out the woodwork. So do your homework on who you should support, and do your homework on who you should give to and what organizations and churches used to support. Even during this time, there's a lot of people that are doing some great work, but there are some that are just in it for the moment and so just
do your homework. And then last year I'll say is now that I'm the president of the NAACP here in Passing that you can always get gift there and support there and we always make sure that all donations go right back into our community.
Okay, awesome.
Now I see that the Diner Relief Drive is doing something all this week, right each week?
Are you guys? What's tell me to do?
So? Yeah, Diner Relief Drive is going on at the Passing the Church with Pastor Kurrmany Monday through Saturday. This week. Also Saturday, the Dinner Drive, we're hosting a youth festival at Harambe Ministris which is sixteen oh nine Navarro Street in Pasadena. Because we are young people have benefactored the service.
Is a little blotchy on your end, Brandon, can you hear me? Okay?
Yeah, So despite all the other organizations and stuff that I've named already that has been supported what we're doing. You know, it's always good to find trusted go fund means that you can give to. Also, if you have people who need donations for go funding, you can actually send those to me and I'll make sure that we push those out to our networks as.
Well where they send it to you. You said to you, what's your email? Social media?
Yeah, you can send it to me on Instagram which is b d Lamar on Instagram. If you want to send it to my email, that's Brandon F. R. Pasadena at Gmail is Branding four Pasadena at gmail dot com, and Instagram is bed Lamar. I don't mind sharing that with my space of influence and things that that nature. At the end of the day, we're trying to rebuild
together and we're trying to grow this together. Dina Relief Drive is our main hub now is at the Pasiting the Church which is four twenty five North sier Madre Villa Avenue in Pasadena. It's literally right across the street from Northstrom Drack and their arrows. This week is Monday through Saturday from eleven to six pm, and so you can get everything from water, clothes, hygiene, kids, babywear, feminine product, anything that you can think of that was in your home.
It's probably at our site that you can come in get. We also have gift cars available if you are looking to donate something. I would say The biggest need right now is gift cards. The reason why we're asking people to give gift cards is so many restaurants are gracious to be providing food for families, hot meals for families. But the truth of the matter is those families don't have refrigerators, they don't have microwaves, they don't have ovens,
they don't have anything. They have nowhere to put it. And so what we've been telling people is to give restaurant gift cards where families can go get hot meals when they want them and when they need them. And so we're really pushing those gift cards. And then also you can always give Target gift cards and Walmart gift cards so that families can go get the essentials and the clothes and stuff that they might need for days
and weeks to come as well. But those are really the biggest needs for us and what we're seeing in our community. And you know, the drives are just emergency relief for this moment, in this time right now. But there's so many things that are happening within the space, and like I said, this is going to be a five to seven year process within our community. And so yeah, there's a lot to happen. There's a lot that is happening, and then there's also a lot that will be happening
as well. And then one of the things that I want to highlight to is if you have anybody looking for long term temporary housing, which I know that's a crazy word, but long term temporary housing is those lease or apartments that's twelve months or under which our families are going to be looking for those things. We have a direct partnership with an organization called green Line Housing Foundation.
Green Line is g r ee n l I n E Housing Foundation, and they actually have grants available for families to be able to pay their short term housing short term housing needs. So you can look up green Light Housing Foundation and they're there to support with long term support as well.
All right now, who were passing a baton to y'all, you could just say, just so we can put the name out there and y'all can send me the information.
Brandon, who you got.
I spoke a little bit about green Light Housing Foundation, and so we're gonna pass botime the green Light Housing Foundation and the owner is Jasmine super which I'm very close to and I would definitely send you her information so that you guys can connect and make sure that the information that she is sharing goes out into the public.
All right, Jasmine, I'm pulling up on you, and I'm gonna need you to pull up on me.
Uh Roland, did you have some you want to say?
Yeah, the person I'd like to pass a baton too, or the organization rather especially for I'd say for voice actors. Particularly is NAVA, which stands for the National Association of Voice Actors and you can find them at nav as
in Victora dot org. And they are providing monetary support to voice actors that are in need at this time, so you can definitely reach out to them, and they will also put you in touch with other resources or people for the voice acting community for those that have lost their year in this fire.
Not only have people lost their homes, but for many even their livelihood. But guess what if you fall down seven times, you get up eight If you can look up, you can get up. And where we are right now, we know that our location is not our destination.
Okay, So were going to keep the faith in mind.
I want to remind all of you if you know somebody that has been affected, if you know somebody that needs some more information, Please feel free to.
Say send me an email.
Vitamin D at Dawn Dai speaks dot com. That's Vitamin D at Dawn Dai speaks dot com. Just put in the subject la wildfire Pasadena, Alta Dina support, help put whatever you need. Just reach out and touch somebody so we can touch somebody on So okay now when also welcome you to follow us on all social media. Vitamin D Dawn d Ai. It's Vitamin D Dawn d Ai. And if you like your own personal Vitamin D you me, baby, I want to encourage you to follow me on all
social media at Dawn Dai speaks. That's Dawn Dai speaks. All right, Well, fellows, thank you so much for sharing your story.
Thank you so much for the work that you do.
And as always, if there's any way that I can support, how I can elevate the conversation or amplify a voice, please feel free.
To reach out to me.
Well Dale that you're doing all right?
All right, guys, until next time, get your
Fighting indy right here with me and get excited about your life