While thousands of firefighters continue to fight several fires Across Los Angeles County, social media feeds are filling up with community resources for those seeking volunteer time, donations or other forms of assistance for displaced residents and first responders.
An estimated 92,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 89,000 under evacuation warnings as strong Santa Ana winds fuel the flames that have burned 40,000 acres and left at least 24 dead. serious fire conditions It is expected to continue until Wednesday.
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon on January 11, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Jae C. Hong/AP
The fires — only partially contained — first broke out in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, followed by several other inferno across L.A. County, decimating entire neighborhoods and sending people fleeing their homes to safety.
In the midst of all the disaster and uncertainty, people in LA and across the country have stepped up to lend a hand, individually and through others. organization-led efforts to provide basic resources such as food, water and clothing to the evacuees.
Firefighters watch water droplets from the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon on January 11, 2025 in Los Angeles.
Eric Thayer/AP
The cooking community and restaurants outside the fire-affected areas have turned their dining rooms into donation centers and community centers, where countless volunteers have turned up around the clock to collect and distribute these requested necessities.
Humanitarian chef José Andrés made an immediate splash in Southern California last week through his nonprofit World Central Kitchen, mobilizing a network of restaurant and food truck partners within hours of the fires to provide nutritious meals to first responders and evacuees with the help of hundreds of volunteers. .
The non-profit organization that responds to natural disasters around the world has been inundated with donations and offers to help on the ground.
There has been a strong response of support during this difficult time, including from celebrities like Jennifer Garner — who has lived in Pacific Palisades for more than 20 years and He spoke to NBC News Distributing meals with Altadena’s World Central Kitchen — to good Samaritans and longtime residents.
Cameron Smith, a 12-year-old LA resident who volunteered with World Central Kitchen all weekend, told “Good Morning America” that the nonprofit is “giving food to everyone who needs it.”
World Central Kitchen volunteers load a van with hot meals to distribute to evacuees and first responders in Los Angeles.
Cameron Smith
“It’s been amazing to see them mobilizing and joining forces, sometimes even working together to provide incredible meals to those in need,” she said. “I’ve had the distinct pleasure of delivering to the frontline firefighters, as well as the animal control personnel who have been working hard to save animals from the fires.”
Smith added, “It’s been absolutely incredible to bring the restaurant community together.”
Nikki and Cameron Smith drive a van full of food through World Central Kitchen to shoot victims around Los Angeles.
Cameron Smith
“Even L.A. restaurants with high-demand bookings, like Felix Trattoria in Venice, are stepping up and committing to the cause,” he said, referring to chef Evan Funke’s famed Italian spot on Abbot Kinney Boulevard. “Everyone has been happy to help, even though WCK has offered much more than originally stated to make sure everyone gets the meals they deserve.”
In addition to his and his wife Nikki Smith’s joint efforts with World Central Kitchen, the father told “GMA” that he organizes virtual donations and joins his efforts with local friends Nick and Karin Ruffini, coordinating Costco and Walmart shopping trips, shopping. filling his Jeep Grand Cherokee to the brim with highly sought-after relief items and supplies.
With 200 private donations to date, Smith and her friends have worked directly with drop-off locations and used the donated funds to purchase additional essential supplies such as baby diapers, wipes, new baby clothes, strollers, non-perishable food items, flashlights, batteries, new blankets, toiletries, bottled water and new socks and underwear for “frontline workers and those directly affected by the fires.”
“The gratitude and enthusiasm of the volunteers to receive these much-needed supplies has been truly gratifying,” Smith said of her efforts with LA-area YMCA and Baby2Baby locations.
About 50 miles south of Pacific Palisades in Huntington Beach, chef Andrew Gruel has turned his popular seafood restaurant Calico Fish House into a community hub where victims can get everything from free meals to air purifiers.
“In the last three days, we’ve probably had over 300 volunteers and $200,000 in product donations,” Gruel told “GMA.” “It was a total donation drive around here this weekend. We had traffic cones and volunteers helping to repack items that were being dropped in the restaurant, with pallets full of supplies.”
Like many, Gruel has helped coordinate donations, spreading requests on social media, helping those in need with the help of his wife, Lauren Gruel, and acting as a support for displaced families, listening to their stories and offering some. moments of comfort
“We’ve probably had 50 families affected by the fires come here for a meal. Some of them two days in a row,” Gruel said. “We pick up everything they need and let them take it until they go to the next one.”
With that demand in the affected area, Gruel said one of Bakersfield’s longtime farmers markets — Santa Carota Beef — “pulled out his trailer and brought us about 1,000 pounds of beef.”
“She even loaded it up with diapers and wipes and drove eight hours to help with the commute,” she said.
Without forklifts to move large amounts of supplies, Gruel worked directly with the Dream Center Foundation in LA — which has 1,700 rooms for people displaced since the fire evacuation began — using its own machinery to help with heavy transport and ultimately distribution of products.
“There are so many amazing stories at the center of all of this,” Gruel said. “We’re talking to these families individually and it’s horrible, but then we had three huge Amazon trucks out full of donations, so I’m trying to stay positive.”
