Fundraising for Los Angeles wildfire victims highlights the enormous loss, need
Assistance efforts for victims of the wildfires this week across Los Angeles County are just as wide-swept as the nearly irreparable damages the disaster has caused in people’s lives.
Since Tuesday the Palisades and Eaton fires have burned more than 22,000 acres and 14,000 acres in the two respective firestorm areas, destroying thousands of homes and businesses and killing several people.
Families, friends, and businesses ranging from local stores and restaurants to the Huntington Museum and Gardens, have started donation campaigns and foundations to help replace people’s belongings and recover their livelihoods.
Fundraising platform GoFundMe has created a hub dedicated to relief from the fires. Nearly 400 individual campaigns have already raised a huge amount of money.
Since the fires erupted on Tuesday more than $50 million has been raised on GoFundMe from donors in all states across the U.S., according to a Saturday statement from GoFundMe. The hub for Los Angeles fire relief fundraisers will be continuously updated as GoFundMe verifies their authenticity.
“We’ve seen countless fundraisers help meet the immediate needs of family members and friends, aid with long-term relief and rebuilding, and fund nonprofit on-the-ground relief efforts,” the GoFundMe statement said. “There has been an incredible outpouring of support for needs that we anticipate to grow as the fires are contained and communities are able to truly assess damages.”
A fundraiser for 83-year-old Altadena resident Walt Butler has raised more than $700,000. The goal set for the campaign started by his children was $250,000.
Butler said the outpouring of support is his community’s way of paying forward what he’s done in the community.
“I have helped a lot of people, and they know that,” Butler said in a Saturday interview. “I’ve been in this community since I was 16, and I’m 83.”
Butler bought his Altadena home around 1970, he said, and over the years he became a pillar and sports legend in the city and Pasadena. From changing a flat tire or jumping a dead car battery, to giving away free footwear from his now-closed Altadena store, Walt Butler Sport Shoes, Butler was always looking to lend a hand.
“Whether it was sponsoring youth sports teams, mentoring kids, or simply offering a listening ear, Walt has always been there for others, put others first (and) would give you the very clothes off his back to help you,” Butler’s GoFundMe page reads.
Despite Butler’s losses, his son Treyjohn Butler said Saturday that his father’s biggest concern is still that his neighbors have enough food and fresh clothes.
“Lots of families are affected, so we’re also trying to help them by using his platform,” Butler’s son, Treyjohn Butler said on Saturday. “He’s still out here trying to give his last dollar to everyone he comes in contact with. Those are the things that are on his heart right now.”
The elder Butler said that everything he owned, including his church clothes and his five cars, is gone. But he feels his only choice is to help those around him.
“In Altadena, the whole town is gone,” Butler said. “We had it so great for so long up there. We lived in paradise.”
“We’re all in the same boat, but the paddles have holes in them,” Butler said. “Pasadena and Altadena have a lot of people who are resilient. We’re going to make it.”
The money raised for Butler will be used to take the first steps toward his recovery, the GoFundMe page reads, including securing temporary housing, replacing essential belongings, rebuilding his home and replacing his vehicles.
“My cars, and to continue helping others,” Butler said of his desires coming out of this disaster. “That’s enough. I’ll be in a position to do more” for other people.