Where do I even begin?

This last week has been an absolute blur.

If you don’t know, my wife and I live in Los Angeles.

We’ve been in a survival mode whirlwind since Wednesday morning when the Palisades and Eaton fires began.

We packed our bags and left them by the door.

Around 5:50 pm on Wednesday night, we got the alert for a fire at Runyon canyon that was rapidly growing.

We were out the door in less than 6 minutes.

Was it still pretty far away? Yes.

But we made the decision as a couple that we were going to act fast if fire was occurring anywhere near us.

We saw the flames from the canyon in our rear view mirror.

Shit just got real.

We headed to Redondo Beach to my best friends house. By the time we landed there, all streets evacuating Hollywood near Runyon Canyon were in gridlock.

We made the right decision.

However, we were one of the lucky ones. Chelsea’s friend, Monique, lost her entire house, two dogs and two cats in the Palisades.

We spent time with her Saturday’s evening to bring her and the girls clothes, donations and hugs.

How you can help for a far

We’ve all experienced disasters like this and the giving portion of it can be overwhelming.

I can tell you because I have donated items in person and seen other locations on social media - you don’t need to send water, clothes or personal items, the volunteers and companies here are crushing it.

This is an image of Santa Anita Race Track in Pasadena - which started from a TikToker going live and cooking for families and it turned into a donation center the size of a football field. There’s about 20 other donation centers of this size in LA right now - it’s been amazing watching the city rally for those affected.

If you want my honest opinion, I would go to the California Wild Fire portion of GoFundMe, find a family who’s story to resinate with and make a donation of your choosing. That’s honestly the best way you can give right now.

Also, here’s the GoFundMe for Monique family.

If you feel called to donate to the Fire Department you can do so HERE.

If you’re any animal lover here’s Pasadena Humane.

Anything you can do is greatly appreciated.

I’ll leave you with how every Angeleno feels right now - read this below

Thank you to everyone who has texted, DM’d, donated or called Chelsea and I.

WE LOVE YOU ALL

Continue to Pray for LA. 

Dodge