Los Angeles Wildfire Update
The past three weeks have been a whirlwind for Project:Camp – and for tens of thousands of families and children impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles.
The sheer scale of the disaster is hard to comprehend, even for those of us on the ground. The magnitude is best expressed by the demand we’re seeing for childcare in the wake of these fires, which is also hard to wrap our heads around. With tens of thousands of children out of school for at least some period of time over these past weeks, we have been inundated with requests from parents to pop up camps for their children.
Thanks to so many of you in our community who donated both money and volunteer hours, we answered those calls.
We’ve helped run camps at 10 sites in and around Los Angeles for children impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires, with more than 500 kids (and counting) participating in our free, trauma-informed programming.
While some schools have begun to reopen, we continue to run multiple camps this week – and plan to continue operations next week until demand subsides.
Again, this work could not happen without the generous support from our community. As we continue to support families impacted by these fires, we ask you to share our message. Your network can amplify the impact and help us reach even more families in need.
And while we’re focused on Los Angeles today, we know the next disaster is never far away. We know we’ll be there when the call comes next, and we hope you’ll answer it with us again.
With gratitude,
Mikey
Bulletin Board
We know that there are still many families looking for childcare help and there are tons of other amazing organizations and government agencies stepping up to help try and fill the gaps. YMCAs across Los Angeles, the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles and Malibu, LA City Rec & Parks, and LA County Parks & Rec all have programs open for kids.
Project:Camp has seen its fair share of news coverage during our time in LA, with the Today Show sending a crew to cover Jennifer Garner and Save the Children’s support for our camps. We also had visits from the Los Angeles Times, Spectrum News 1, and NPR station KCLU.
