CEC Community Updates and Resources

In response to the Eaton fire:

February 20, 2025

  • Click here to see information on an event hosted by the Easter Seals- Support for Individuals Impacted by the Eaton Fires* Help Completing Assistance Forms.

February 10, 2025

February 6, 2025

February 5, 2025

February 4, 2025

January 22, 2025

January 21, 2025

Informational Zooms

  • Altadena Town Council is hosting a meeting tonight (1/21) at 7pm on Zoom. To submit questions and learn more, click here.

  • Caltech has shared this informational session about fire insurance policies and claims. Zoom is on Wednesday, January 22, from 1-2:30pm.

Emotional Support and Guidance

We are pleased to announce the opening of a Creative Care Room at the Armory. Co-hosted by our friends at Gale’s Restaurant, we invite you and any members of the community to stop by the Armory for a hot cup of tea or coffee, fruit and snacks, art-making activities for all ages, and a place to find community or rest for a few moments. ❤️
From 12 - 3 PM, Lisa Watts will be activating an art-making activity. From 3-5:30 PM the activities will be self-led. Studio parents are welcome to hang out in the room or, if they prefer, go upstairs to the Visitor's lounge.

The Creative Care Room will be open this week from Tuesday, January 21, through Friday, January 24, from noon until 5:30PM. Children ages 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Donation Pick-Up Sites & Resources

  • Living Spaces is donating free mattresses to victims of the recent fires. Click here for more information.

  • Caltech has a donation center with items available for pick-up. Donation and Pickup Center - www.caltech.edu

  • Neighbors and Friends Cafe in Old Town Pasadena has free resources for pick-up. More details on items and location here.

  • Beginning Tuesday, January 21 at noon, both the Pasadena Public Libraries and the Pasadena Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department will provide free PPE to those impacted by the Eaton Fire. More information here.

January 16, 2025

We have added some new and reorganized resources below.

Click here to see another compiled list of fire resources. It lists general information as well as information on funding/grants, insurance claims, donated items, and action plans.

Emotional Support

Resources for Talking to Children about the Fires

  • The LA Times has a very helpful article here.

Information on Smoke Safety

  • Click here to read about protecting children from the wildfire ash and air quality concerns.

January 14, 2025

If your family is in need of items due to the fire, we have opened the Whale room at our Oak Grove site as a donation pick-up site. There is food, clothing, items for babies and children.

Additionally, here are three other pick up sites for those in need:

St. Sarkis Church : 58 S. Sierra Madre, Pasadena, CA 91107

Families Forward Learning Center: 980 N Fair Oaks Ave, Pasadena (next to Jackie Robinson)

Hollywood American Legion Post 43: 2035 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90068

Resource for Talking with Children and Families about Wildfires

For information on the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families and the Zoom event they are hosting, click here.

Zoom will be hosted Wednesday, January 15, at noon. Sign up here.

The Center for Connection in Pasadena

Our main preschool focuses have been:

  • Providing a gathering space for impacted or burned preschools to allow their families to gather for connection and community. We have space at our 3030 E. Colorado location and our Duarte location to host large and small groups. These are informal and simply a chance for families to engage the healing power of community with familiar faces. We are making sure there are therapists on hand to help with resources and regulation, if wanted. 

  • Developing pro-bono processing therapy groups (likely to begin in a couple of weeks). This development is still in the works, but the intention is to develop groups that are targeted. This might mean a group specifically for parents whose homes have been lost or for kids whose school is gone. If there are families at The CEC who might benefit from a group specifically for them (i.e., just CEC families), let me know!

Although we've had a lot of direct impact to our clinical team, we are very much still accepting new clients and working as quickly as possible to make sure folks are connected to what they need. We are trying to share our broader support options so families can sift through each step of recovery and re-regulation and engage when they are ready.

Caltech Community Event

Caltech is hosting a Community Gathering to provide an opportunity for us to come together, to share our experiences, to provide comfort and hope, we invite you to join a special gathering this Friday, January 17, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Beckman Mall.

Click here for more information.

Insurance Advice

If you are looking for advice on navigating insurance claims after losing your home in the fire, this video is a useful resource.

Building an Air Purifier

Caltech students and faculty have been circulating this DIY air purifier, call a Corsi-Rosenthal Box. More information, along with a PDF of instructions, are available here.

January 12, 2025

Additional Community Resources

Legal Advice

Our former board member, Kelsey, is here to provide free legal advice. To that end, her law firm is hosting a Town Hall Monday, January 13, at 3pm at the University club and via Zoom to discuss the best next steps in for pursuing insurance claims and litigation against SCE.

Please feel free to share this to anyone who may be interested or in need. 

For Monday’s Town Hall: feel free to circulate anywhere. Up to 1,000 people can be on the Zoom.

Topic: Eaton Fire Town Hall

Time: Jan 13, 2025 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88576101391?pwd=oJfTdf9le5eDIUqdwr8rDt8b2WaBKU.1

Meeting ID: 885 7610 1391

Passcode: 021352

Mental Health Assistance

We are sharing a growing list of therapists who are offering pro-bono help to children and adults affected by the Eaton fire. Click here to access.

Housing Assistance

Realtor, Ella Mai, is offering access to long-term housing throughout the Southern California region. She has around 100 homes in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernardino, and Riverside that are available for rent. Please call (412)265-5926 if you are interested.

FEMA Housing Aid

FEMA is paying a large portion (up to 90%) of rent for several years. Please click here for more information.

January 11, 2025

Dear Families,

We hope this finds you as safe and well as possible under these terrible circumstances. Today, a small, but mighty group came together to begin the clean-up at our Oak Grove site. Miraculously, the power came back on, and the positive energy (literally!) was infectious. Thank you to the Parent Council, volunteers, and staff who volunteered their time to clean toys and ready the rooms for reopening. Our amazing facilities team is power washing the exterior of Oak Grove and doing their best to clear any debris from our sites. 

As of today, Saturday, January 11, our plan is the following:

  • To reopen the Oak Grove site in La Cañada at 7:00 am on Monday, January 13 for Infant, Toddle and Preschool families.

  • To reopen the Otters in Pasadena at 7:00 am on Monday for all families. 

  • To offer full care in the Whale room at Oak Grove in La Cañada at 8:00 am on Monday for any enrolled families who need it (no need to pre-sign up, just show up)

  • If all mandatory evacuations for La Cañada have been lifted, to offer full care at the three individual LCUSD sites (PCY, PCR, and LCE) in La Cañada at noon on Monday for enrolled children (no need to pre-sign up, just show up) 

We have changed all of our air filters and are procuring as many air purifiers as are available. Masks are HIGHLY recommended, especially outside, and we have plenty on site. Ash is still falling, and we understand that attendance from families may be low. We know that many of you may be out of town or otherwise displaced, even if your homes are still standing. We know that this will not be a normal day or week, and that children and families are not in their normal routines. But we also know that children need to see each other and their teachers, parents need to work, and we need to be of service.

Please be assured, if things change on Sunday and we have to adjust our plans, we will send out other communications.

See you soon, 

Allegra and Ellen

January 10, 2025

Dear CEC Community,

Each day, we learn of more loss for our community. It is truly heartbreaking, and we, along with the Parent Council, are working to organize support for those in need. We have had so many of you reaching out to us asking how you can help, and we wanted you to know what we have set up:

  • We have also created a CEC Community Relief Fund for families who have lost their homes. Our founders, Eric and Elyssa Nelson, have generously donated $1000 to get this started. Please click on this link to donate

  • As this is a tender time for everyone, here are some resources for talking to children about this difficult topic. We are also available to help you process in any way we can.

  • Please see below for a compilation of resources for the entire community.

We also wanted you to know that we are enrolling families from programs that were lost in Pasadena. We have limited space available at both our Caltech and our Oak Grove site, but we will enroll children as we have space available.

We know this is all very overwhelming and we want to help in any way we can. If there are ideas for helping that you do not see here, please let us know.

With love and hope, 

Allegra, Ellen, and all your friends at the CEC

General Help and Resource Lists

Emergency Support or call 211

Fire and Wind Storm Resources (continuous updates) Over 200 resources for food, shelter, animal boarding, etc, in/around LA County

FEMA Disaster Assistance - Individuals Affected by the Wildfires in California

Wildfire Relief Assistance – Caltech Employee Credit Union

Red Cross / Recovery Services

  • Meals

  • Emotional/ Mental Health Services

  • Charging stations for medical devices

  • Health services (for disaster-related conditions), such as first aid, refilling lost prescriptions or replacing lost eyeglasses

  • Emergency supplies to help clean up after a disaster

Mutual Aid LA Network:  This list includes an easy-access list of information sites, housing, and animal shelters.

California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES): Offers comprehensive information on recovery efforts, including housing assistance, debris removal, and financial aid.

Los Angeles County Emergency Response: Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, and other wildfires. Offers Information about general emergency response and recovery services available to all LA County residents.

American Red Cross: Provides shelter, food, and financial assistance to those affected by wildfires. Local Emergency Shelters.

Mental and Emotional Health After an Emergency: This one-page guide can help you identify common reactions and what you can do for you and your family.

LA Times Resource List

Housing

  • Airbnb has partnered with 211LA to provide temporary housing to those displaced by the fires. More info is here, and if you’re one of those evacuated, an intake form can be found here.

  • Discounted hotels in Santa Monica include the Gateway, the Hilton, Ocean Lodge, and more. A full list can be found here, but be aware of changing evacuation orders that may include some of these areas.

  • Hotel Perla downtown is pet-friendly and offering a discounted rate to those affected by the fires.

  • A selection of hotels in Anaheim are also offering discounted rates for those who are leaving and heading south.

  • Tourism site Discover LA has a list of hotels offering fire rates as well.

Water and Food

  • For Pasadena Water and Power customers in the Eaton Fire impacted areas. The City of Pasadena is opening a bottled water distribution center today January, 10 from noon to 5 PM, and tomorrow January 11 from 8 AM to 5 PM at 450 N. Lake Ave.

  • LA Food Bank

  • LA Restaurants - Free Meals (continuous updates)

  • Food Aid For Fire Victims: Local restaurants and food providers are offering meals for people affected by the fires and facilitating donations.  

  • World Central Kitchen (WCK) now has an open site at the St. Francis High School offering free meals for those affected by the fire, also viewable on the Watch Duty map. The other sites will be open at the following times.

Transportation

  • Lyft: Riders in need can use the code CAFIRERELIEF25, valid for 2 rides up to $25 each ($50 total) for 500 riders from now until 1/15 at 11:59 p.m.

  • Uber: Use promo code WILFIRE25 in the wallet section of your Uber app to redeem a free Uber ride up to $40.

  • Click here for the latest on L.A. Metro’s service updates.

Animal Shelters and Resources

Clothing and Other Items

  • If your children need clothing, we are here to help. Please complete this form to request free clothing for children.

Support for Children

  • Vroman’s in Pasadena is holding storytime on the following dates and times:

    • Saturday, January 11th, at 11am and 2pm

    • Sunday, January 12th, at 2pm

Emotional Support