A few miles from the wreckage left behind by the Eaton fire, a Los Angeles art studio was packed over the weekend with supplies a teenage girl might need to start over.
Sports bras and graphic T-shirts hang from hangers. Converse shoes were arranged by size on the concrete floor. Clear plastic containers are filled with deodorant, hair products and pastel pimple patches.
All the items collected at the airy warehouse in the Boyle Heights neighborhood were free for young people whose homes burned in the city’s devastating wildfires.
While Many relief activities for fire victims Focusing on dire needs like shelter and food, Avery Colvert, an eighth-grader in Pasadena, started a donation drive. Altadena Girls Last week with a slightly less clear delivery. She wanted to offer young women the essentials they had missed, as well as some everyday luxuries that could help them get their lives back on track.
Christina Soltero spent more than two hours Monday browsing with her 13-year-old niece, Mila, whose home in Altadena was burned to the ground. Eaton fire. The pajamas Mila was wearing when her family was evicted were the only clothes she had left. His budding record collection was destroyed.
“It really destroyed his spirit,” said Ms Soltero, 41, a nurse.
While her parents were looking for accommodation, Mila packed two Ikea bags with socks, hair ties and a Brandy Melville cardigan. His aunt said when she discovered a dusty pink Stanley Cup he had left behind.
“It was very hard not to cry the whole time, because she was so happy,” Ms Soltero said. “For a minute, she was completely normal, shopping, not thinking about her loss.”
Ms Colvert, 14, created the Altadena Girls Instagram account on Friday with the help of her stepfather. Her home was saved, but many of her friends were not, she said in an interview Time magazine. His middle school, an elite arts magnet, burned down.
He Call posted on social media for new clothes, hygiene and beauty products, describing the kinds of items she believes teenage girls deeply appreciate once they find food and shelter. will go
“I started hearing from my friends about things they desperately needed, but were afraid or embarrassed to ask for,” Ms. Colvert wrote in an email. “Girl stuff. Teenage girl stuff. Everything from bras and underwear to makeup and stuff to make them feel like themselves.”
The initiative immediately gained high-level support. Charli XCX called the outfit “awesome” on social media. The shipment of donated products arrived from Ariana Grande’s makeup brand REM Beauty. Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Made a donation Through his charitable foundation.
Altadena Girls said it is opening a new location in Pasadena to bring supplies closer to those affected by the wildfires. As of Tuesday, An initiative Inspired by this group, he came forward to help the teenage boys.
Once Ashleeta Beauchamp, 35, decided she didn’t need to leave her home in Sherman Oaks, she posted on Instagram that she planned to deliver hair care products for black women to Altadena Girls. have been
Her followers sent her nearly $800 to help buy leave-in conditioner, moisturizing shampoo, bonnets, age gels and wide-tooth combs. Ms. Beauchamp filled a cart at Target on Saturday with several products she uses on her hair.
“I want to make sure that everybody is taken care of, especially because the black community was. Altadena was very impressed.“, said Ms. Beauchamp, who works in finance for the film industry and grew up near La Crescenta.
When she delivered the products to the studio’s location in Boyle Heights, she was pleased to see how many people were dropping off donations and serving as volunteer stylists. She hoped her efforts would provide a moment of solace to young women whose lives had been destroyed.
“Those kids have been through enough already,” she said.