Finding Dignity, Community & Justice After the Eaton Fire with Chris Holden & Doug Boxer

Host Lisane Basquiat speaks with Doug Boxer (LA Fire Justice) and Chris Holden about the Jan 7, 2025 Eaton Fire in Altadena — its causes, community impact, and recovery efforts. They discuss legal action against utilities, survivor support programs like Mental Health Mondays and Ashes & Echoes, and ways listeners can help rebuild and sustain the community.

Learn how to set boundaries without guilt. Join Lisane's next Protect Your Peace Shaping Session today: https://shapingfreedom.com/boundaries-workshop

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Healing is really difficult. When I finished that and I've
settled the case, my job on those four corners of
the page are done, but the client's job is not done.
They have to deal with this for a long time.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm very proud of the people of Altadena and how
some had to run, some had to flee, others said no,
we're going to stay and we're gonna fight. And even
after the fire, we're going to stay and we're going
to fight. Altadena is not for sale.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Welcome to the Shaping Freedom podcast, where we dive into
conversations that inspire personal growth, transformation, and clarity and challenging times.
I'm your host, Lisan Bosquiat. When disaster strikes, most of
us look for safety, but there are some people that
look for solutions and for ways to help and for

(00:53):
the people who are falling through the cracks of that disaster.
In this episode of Shaping Freedom, I'm joined by Doug Boxer,
an attorney and justice advocate, and Chris Holden, the former
California assembly member. And what we're going to talk about
is what really happened in the aftermath of one of
the largest wildfires in US history, the Eton Fires. Doug

(01:17):
and Chris have been on the ground, not just helping
people recover their property, but fighting for dignity, justice, and recognition.
Doug brings his legal expertise and personal fire to advocacy,
having helped hundreds of families navigate the trauma, bureaucracy and loss. Chris,
whose deep roots in public service and community leadership have

(01:40):
spanned decades, understanding what it means to push policy forward
and what it costs when the system doesn't meet people
where they are. Together, they've made it their mission to
uplift survivors who were promised help and then abandoned by
the very systems that were meant to protect them. This
is a conversation about community, about community trauma, about real advocacy,

(02:04):
and the deeper meaning of freedom after loss. If you've
ever felt like you were left to rebuild alone, this
episode is for you. I do want to welcome you,
Chris Holden and Doug Boxer to the Shape and Freedom Podcast.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Thanks so much for having us.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome. Can you maybe just to
kind of set the tone into bring some context to
this conversation? What were they eating fires and what happened?

Speaker 1 (02:45):
So the Eating Fire started on January seventh, twenty five,
at around six h nine pm in the evening. It
started in the face of a ferocious wind event, which
which was an expected wind event. The National Lever Service
three days earlier had predicted this exact whether event would

(03:07):
occur and issued its most highest level warning called a
potentially Dangerous Situation PDS. That should have given Edison noticed
that their system was going to be under great strain.
What we found, working with our experts and other lawyers,
is that a set of transmission lines which is sitting

(03:27):
above Eating Cannon, which had been deactivated and de energized
in nineteen seventy one, fifty four years ago, became energized
because of its proximity to two towers that had power
flowing through them that Edison did not turn off. That energy,
through the process is very well known, transferred from the

(03:50):
powered line to the decommission line. It then sparked. Multi
metal fell to the ground into the brush below which
was not properly maintained, and the wind took it from there.
And we know what happened about the tragic circumstances. So
from our perspective, as my perspective as a lawyer, we

(04:10):
have a culpable party, which is Southern California Edison, the utility,
who's responsible for all the mayhem that occurred that evening
in the following.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Day, And what moved you to act well?

Speaker 1 (04:24):
From my perspective, I've been doing utility spark wildfire work
and representing over twenty thousand people who have had their
lives turned upside down or even lost lives as a
result of these fires that have been occurring, unfortunately almost
every year. And so the first thing that wills me

(04:45):
to act is knowing that these families have been devastated
and there's something that we can do about it as
the law all that Chris speak to his personal quest here,
because I think it's an extension of what he's been
doing with his life. But that's really ali. What initially
gets me motivated to get up in the morning and
do this is to help people get justice that they deserve.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
And what about you, Chris, what was it about this
that moved you to act well?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
That night? Even though where I live is outside the
burn area, the winds and the smoke and the ashes
were traveling well beyond the burn area, and we had
quite frankly a lot as a family that we were
trying to understand what we needed to do, because even
though we were well into Pasadena and outside of Altadena,

(05:36):
the intensity of the smoke that was filling our home
kind of moved us to action. We weren't our neighborhood
wasn't called for evacuation, but we self evacuated just because
we had friends who were relocating from Altadena who were
asked to leave their neighborhood, and we just made space

(05:59):
until we were all that our home was not really
going to be conducive. It wasn't until the next day,
so we got a hotel in downtown LA and we
stayed there. There was a lot of concern and the
ensuing at that time because there was also reports of
people who were starting to loot in neighborhoods and breaking

(06:20):
into homes, and not necessarily ones they were on fire,
but people who had fled. Once it became clear the
next day just the magnitude of the devastation and how
neighborhoods were still burning, gas lines were still on. Starting
to hear reports from people that I knew who fled

(06:43):
when they didn't know that they had to flee, that
they thought they had time to maybe gather some personal items,
and then realized that they did not. We learned in
subsequent days that the alerts that were supposed to go
out to get people Apple noticed weren't happening. So as
a public policy person, that's where my head goes right away, too,

(07:07):
is that my mind is wrapped around with what happened,
what failed in that space, because you know, fires happened,
but nothing has ever occurred quite like this where the
fires would leave the canyon in the upper parts of
the mountain area and come down into the community. Not
in any of the San Gabriel Valley areas that I represent,

(07:28):
did anything like this ever happen before, And so it
caught a lot of folks off guard. But there are
still a lot of questions that are in need of answer.
What happened, Why did it happen, Why was it a
parent so apparent where the La Times did a story
to highlight those who are on the west side of

(07:50):
Lake got hardly any if any notice at all, and
that's where the greatest number of people who lost their
lives took place. So even though we're now past the
six month mark, there are still a lot of questions
to what happened that night and the moments that proceeded

(08:12):
the devastation moving as quickly as it did, and as
Doug pointed out, the winds were at eighty two hundred
miles an hour. We took things down at our home
because we knew that it was going to be a
heavy impact. So it is still baffling why Edison did
not look to this as an opportunity to shut down
the power because if they had, we're just dealing with

(08:35):
roofs that are in need of repair and not lost lives.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
So what is LA Fire Justice.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
It's a consortium of lawyers and it is a recognizing
that people's lives were turned upside down and they lost
when they should not have. They were this did not
have to happen the way that it did. For a
group of individual lawyers like Doug and Michael Watts, who

(09:05):
have been a part of addressing these kind of calamities
and other parts of the Statewaii representing over twenty thousand
victims of wildfires, specifically, that their expertise becomes very critical

(09:28):
in terms of folks understanding what their rights are and
what the process should be and how best they could
be taken care of going through this having lost what
they did, having insurance companies failed folks and coming up
short in what they thought they needed. Others who families
who generationally have passed down their homes and over time

(09:52):
actually paid off their homes and took a risk not
having insurance now have lost everything. So stepping into that
gap and to making sure that they understand what their
rights are and that they're protected through this process, and
that at the same time, we go beyond just being
a law firm. As much as it is important to

(10:15):
focus in that space, we're learning so much about how
this fire has impacted the lives of people, how they're
trying to now figure out what their next looks like.
And so when you have families who are saying, hey,
I don't know if I can wait, and are starting
to sell their home and they're having, unfortunately to sell

(10:36):
it on the cheap to have and I'm talking about
land the property that they are to have people who
are saying I want to rebuild, but then the federal
government says, well, we're not going to test the soil,
and so now their choice is Okay, if I want
to rebuild, now I have to build on potentially contaminated soil.
So those are the some of the indication of some

(10:58):
of the policy issues that are e merging from this
that are causing great concern, and we are a unique
position to be able to at least explore and hopefully
get some good answers in that space as well.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, I think you mentioned that it's been six months,
which is unbelievable. This year has been flying, and I
remember I'm down in San Diego, but I remember those
few days and how horrifying it was. And someone who
I work with had his mother owned his family owned

(11:36):
a home and in that area, and he was sick
and he pulled he was he's a contractor, and he
pulled up, and I was teasing him about being sick
and coming to my house, you know, spreading germs, you know,
because he was you know, uh, it's like, you know,
you don't want to sit at home and don't come
up here, you know, with your with your boogers or whatever.

(11:58):
And just to look on his face, and he described
having heard from the tenants I guess that were in
the house that this was going on, and it was,
you know, how rapidly everything was moving and they'd moved
his mother, who was elderly, out of the home right
before these folks went in to rent it, and just

(12:22):
kind of watching and having that in the days that
followed so many people who were impacted by the fires
that happened up here in la And it's six months later,
but if you've lost everything, it's six months later, and

(12:42):
all of the initial support. A lot of times we
live in this world of like you know, nowness you know,
and it's six months later, and there are people who
have lost their homes, who have lost everything, who are
still struggling to figure out how to rebuild and whether
or not to rebuild and what to do and all
of that. I commend you for doing the work of

(13:06):
standing for those families and for those for the injustice
in that active God or not or active negligence in
some part in some ways. Is it what is it
that you'd like for people to know about this work

(13:27):
of disaster recovery, not in the initial two or three weeks,
but six months, a year out, two years out.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Well, let me just jump in, having done this before
in ten Buyers, and you're right, there's initial flood of
support for victims and survivors right, which is just shows
how benevolent our communities are. Both people, corporations, nonprofits all
flow in and resources are available to people in the

(13:57):
immediate aftermath. Soon thereafter, those resources leave because there's another
design exception. I think there's always there's always more that
these organizations need to do, and these communities sometimes feel
stuck and left abandoned. I wish as a lawyer that
the civil justice system worked much faster than it does. Unfortunately,

(14:22):
it doesn't operate quickly. You have to methodically lay out
your case. You have an opponent on the other side
who's not necessarily incentivized to move fast. Our job, my
job as an advocate for people, and I appreciate you
using that word because that's what that's what we do.

(14:42):
We are advocates. Our job is to try to make
it go as fast as we can. How do we
do that by putting pressure on Edison, on the defendant
in this case with overwhelming evidence of what started the fire.
The good news is that we're pretty close to there. Okay,
but what do I tell families? We are honest with them,

(15:05):
and we tell them that this might take a little
bit of time. That said, our organization LA Fire Justice
really brings a holistic approach to this litigation. At the
end of the day, I'm a lawyer, That's what I
have to do. But we also surround ourselves with a
team of people who understand insurance issues, who understand the ngospace,
who understand government. Chris was for many years an elected official.

(15:29):
He's now a recovering elected official. I come out of
a family with a mother who was an elected official,
so I know how that how those forms of government
can provide assistance, right. And then we also are providing
mental health services to our clients. Actually, we're providing mental
health services access to something once a month in our

(15:50):
office to try to give people the additional resources that
they need so that they are not just waiting around
for the litigation to ultimately get give them the resources
they need, maybe to rebuild their homes or their lives.
So as much as I wish I could wave my
magic wand and give them the resources out of Edison's

(16:11):
bank account, we can't do that. We have to follow
the process and we're making good progress there. But I
think I think it's the work of the community at
large to ensure that the members of that community have
the resources they need to be able to continue to
stay in the community. The last plan I'll make. It's
a long answer, but I think it's important to make

(16:34):
every one of the communities where I've gone in to
provide legal assistance to get justice for people our communities
that are made up of people, not buildings. The buildings
are important. They house the people, they house the businesses,
they house the services. So we need to get the
buildings rebuilt so the people who made up those communities

(16:56):
can move back into the community. And that's what's happened
in Northern California and the community of Santa Rosa in
the town of Paradise, people have the resources ultimately to
move back in. It's happening in Lahina on the island
of Maui, a place that's very similar to Altadena, multi
generational families who are living in one building. The aggregation

(17:19):
of wealth through the ownership of their home, which was
so critical to Altadena's families that we just cannot ignore
and we cannot let that simply disappear because people don't
have the money it takes to pay their property taxes. Right,
we have to figure out ways to get folks those
resources so that those communities come back and the fabric

(17:41):
of the community, the people stay because otherwise we lose
something that's super special about this place on the planet Earth.
So that's what kind of gets me up in the
morning to continue to fight hard and make it happen
as quickly as we can.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
Speaking about the humans behind all this, I'd love to
know what brought you to this work, Like, tell me
a little bit about your background and what brought you
specifically to La Fire Justice.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Well, for me, as you know, I've been in politics
for about thirty six plus years as an elected My dad,
former La City Council mem and State Senator Nateholden, was
someone who was much a guiding light in my life

(18:31):
to the responsibility to be connected to public service, underscore service,
and I remember he always would say, it's not where
you serve, but how you serve. So being elected was
not necessarily the driver, but being in a position where
you could use your skills and your gifts to hopefully

(18:55):
make a difference in people's lives. I even today have
a hard time saying no to someone who has a problem,
even though it's completely outside of my bailiwick, only because
for so many years, you want to make yourself available
and present. So when this opportunity came to me, it
was really sort of at a time when I was

(19:17):
looking at what my next would be. I had just
turned out of the legislature, I had served twelve years.
I had a very important posts while I was there,
from a majority leader to Chair of Utility and Energy
and Appropriations Chair. So for my twelve years I was

(19:38):
in a good place to understand from leadership what the
big picture looked like, but also in our districts to
be very much engaged. I had the opportunity, I won't
say the pleasure, but the opportunity because it comes out
of a tragedy. When Pacific Gas and Electric had going

(19:59):
into the their most recent fire at the time, wildfire
that they caused, they were downgraded to junk bond status,
which meant that in terms of the marketplace, there were
risk and when they then made it clear that they
had no other options but to file for bankruptcy, then

(20:22):
that sent a ripple not only around California and the nation,
but Wall Street. You cannot have the largest utility in
the country in bankruptcy without that creating amazing ripples and
catastrophic ripples to your own economy in your state, and

(20:46):
with three investor owned utilities basically providing power to eighty
percent of California's customers. If the market isn't stabilized at
some point very quickly, then San Diego Gas and Electric
would have potential challenges of staying solvent, as would so

(21:10):
as was Edison. So we had to come up with
a strategy to stabilize the market but also to protect
the victims of wildfires. AB ten fifty four became that tool,
and the governor and his team and he had to
bring an outside support to help us dig deep into

(21:32):
creative solutions that would accomplish that balance. This bill was
able to do that by creating a fund, a Victims
Fund through Wildfire Mitigation Program, that utilities would have access
to going forward to make sure that the victims of

(21:55):
the fires that the current fires that and E had
costs and had put in dire strait, they would not
have access to the fund unless they were able to
negotiate some type of a settlement with the victims of
that particular fire going forward, which is where we are now. Edison,

(22:15):
if they find themselves have been prudent managers would then
at least have that, but they responsible for the fire
would have access to the fund, but they would then
have to put up the first one billion. The fund
is structured from ten and a half billion from shareholders
of the three utilities and ten and a half billion

(22:37):
for twenty one billion dollar fund from the rate payers,
and that's established over a fee that's been in place
since the deregulation period, and that is supposed to generate
upwards of ten and a half billion. So that's how
we get to the twenty one billion. I take pride

(22:58):
in knowing that we were really do something that now
other states and other communities are looking at as an
important model for stabilizing especially in a time when climate
change is exacerbating and accelerating wildfires to catastrophic wildfires. Wildfires
that would stay in the canyons are now making their

(23:19):
way down into communities like Altadena, and so this is
creating a whole nother dynamic of how we view fighting
these wildfires. You'll hear from the first responders that with
the winds moving as quickly as they were that night,
embers were being shot over their head and the communities
closer to me and so their ability to fight that

(23:43):
kind of an event was quickly realized that this was
not going to be something that they could get ahead
of because they weren't sure how to even position themselves
to contain it. They needed to then start evacuating, and
that process again yielded some clear evidence that we weren't prepared.

(24:05):
When I say we the collective, we but the county
and the alert system, and then how we would respond
in the days after. And I will say this just
as another point, Alta Dina has really demonstrated the Altadenans,
and Doug alluded to it, it's the people to a

(24:27):
factor of one hundred, because this was a community that said,
we're not going to wait for the government to tell
us with a task force or some kind of instructional
body that here's what we need to do, and that
type of thing. Certainly, FEMA was engaging and the army
or engineers were engaging, but organically, communities started to come together.

(24:51):
Block captains were formed to make sure that they were
checking on their neighbors within their census track. There was
an organization collectively from a lot of different groups around
Altadena to gather as much information so that they can
share it with their neighbors and say, here's what you
need to know. You know, here's how you need to
engage with FEMA so that your lot can be cleared.

(25:14):
Here's what you need to know about where to go
to get wiper diapers and bottled water in that in
those ensuing days where you can go to get closed
people lost everything. If they walked out of the house
with a shirt and pants on and shoes, that's all
they act. And so there was a period of time

(25:36):
where organizations that were familiar with Red Cross and others
that were intervening as they always do, but churches and
community based organizations locking together with Hope the Mission and
other organizations that usually operate in this space. But they
were able to extend their reach because so many in

(25:58):
Altadena were sort of me together to help their neighbors
as the day as the night of those fires where
people step stayed at their homes, watering their roofs and
their neighbor's roofs, you know, so if the fire department
couldn't get there, they were doing everything they could and
taking in smoke in a very dangerous way. That's a

(26:20):
spirit that you know that comes out in crisis, but
I'd like to see more of that, if you will,
around the world, and people treating each other in that
kind of way. But I'm very proud of the people
of Altadena. How some had to run, some had to flee,
others said no, we're going to stay and we're going
to fight. Yeah, and even after the fire, we're going

(26:42):
to stay and we're gonna fight. Altadena's not for sale.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
From the outside looking in, what I observed was that
spirit that you're referring to, where people were grateful to
have their lives, and you know, they talked about the
fact that they could rebuild. I also observed how this

(27:18):
seemed to be a disaster that really brought people together.
You know, I know people who had families staying with
them because you know, the ability to find a hotel
or an airbnb or whatever became less and less likely
after just a couple of days. And it just seemed
to be this tremendous community event, something that whether you

(27:45):
were directly impacted by it or not, it seemed like
la just came together in support of each other for
this event and for this disaster. And I think that
at the end of the day, you're right like there's
a law and there's a process and you have to
wait and insurance and all of that. But six or

(28:06):
seven months into it, you know we need each other
because we just don't have the structure the infrastructure in
place to support people at the level of support that
we're need, that that's needed in this kind of situation
with and I'm going to get to some of your
backstory in a second, I just want to ask for

(28:27):
how long have you been have you both been part
of the LA Fire Justice? And what was your like,
what's your vision for your contribution to this cause?

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Well, Doug has been there longer because he called me
to see if I would want to join and be
the CEO.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
So you still have to answer the question.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Well, no, no, Well, first of all, you know, it
was the values that that I connected with in which
you've highlighted when you have in that ensuing thirty days
from the fire, twenty nine days out, there was a

(29:09):
lot of really bad advertisement from law firms that was
making its way onto social media. I wasn't a part
of anyone's I wasn't locked into anyone. I'm still in
that place where, you know, trying to evaluate my options
in terms of my next but I remember seeing it
and it was incredibly offensive. And so when I talk

(29:35):
about values and when I get a call from Doug
and he says, look, we want to we want to
talk to you about an opportunity that we are creating
here to bring healing injustice to the community my wife
and I, so I thought that was very important, and
the way that he framed it from the standpoint of

(29:57):
justice was kind of an end result of we're going
to fight for you because we know, having done this before,
the systems will fail. People will fail you, and the
utilities are really accountable to their shareholders. So we're going
to fight to get what you're entitled to, to get

(30:18):
you back to Hoole or as close as possible. So
for me, when I had an opportunity my wife to
go here there for very first it turned out the
very first town hall. Aaron Brockovich was a part of that,
and she's still a part of the information and advocacy
part of La Fire Justice. I realized that Okay, they're

(30:44):
inher to fight multiple fights, and that justice part isn't
just a throwaway line to make it sound good. It
is something that they are making as a part of
the ethos that this is who they are. And then
when I saw the video that they spent rather than

(31:06):
advertising to the community saying hey, we're another law firm,
come talk to us, they basically stayed out of that
space for thirty days, and then they spent that time
trying to figure out how the fire started and spending
resources to understand so that they would be in a
position to tell Edison it wasn't an encampment like they

(31:29):
said that night, Oh it's started. They were better off
just saying we don't know, but to start throwing out reasons,
and then to have the ability for La Fire Justice
to say to the entire community as well as to Edison, no,
that's not how it started. I put myself in the
position of, if you will that night, not having been

(31:50):
associated at that point with the La Fire Justice as
a juror, if I'm sitting in a courtroom and I'm
hearing this presentation Michael did not get through but maybe
a half of the presentation, and I leaned over to
my wife Melie and said, these guys are guilty. And
then when I got that we had a chance to

(32:12):
sit down, I said, you know, you're fighting for the underdogs.
You're fighting for the folks who usually are left out,
whether it's in Katrina or you name it. Communities of
color sometimes are the ones that get it on the chin.
And I was impressed with a kind of effort. And

(32:33):
there was another fire that was happening in the Palisades
that night, but they were locking onto Altadena and that
was very impressive to me.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
So, Doug, you've had so much experience that obviously this
community has been able to benefit from because it sounds
like you were able to jump in there, you know
what to do to get the ball rolling, But just
take a couple of steps back here. How did you
get to a place where you started to build that experience?

(33:08):
Like what brought you here?

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (33:11):
You know, for me, the word justice, you know, Chris
talked about that word and what it means. I bring
that fundamental view to this picture because at the end
of the day, it is about a group of people
who have been harmed through no fault of their own,
for actions and inactions taken by others that should have
never have been the case. And it helps to describe

(33:35):
where I come from. I think in order to get
to the answer that you're the question. You're the answer
to the question you're asking. Like Chris, I am the
child of an elected official. My mother I was US
Senator Barbara Boxer. My career started in advocacy when I
was being pushed in a stroller protesting the Vietnam War

(33:58):
in San Francisco in the late sixties. And that was
her for a into that space. And you know, so
it's been it's been in me. Uh, the fight for
justice has been in me even before you know I

(34:21):
could even know. Combined with my father, who was a
lawyer who represented injured workers, I was taught at a
very early age to respect working people, for the right
to organize, unionize, for an honest wage, for benefits, to
never cross a picket line. Myself becoming in my first

(34:46):
real job aside from babysitting, you know, working in a
grocery story as a member, a proud member of a union.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
And so.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
It took me a while to get to where I
am today. For me, I think to be able to
instill all those values that were put into me at
an early age. But I always tried in my community.
I live in Oakland, California, whether it was serving on
my local Planning Commission or trying to keep the Oakland

(35:18):
A's in Oakland. As a volunteer, I've always felt that
connection to community and trying to do what's right by
the community. But while I was having a career in
government affairs work generally and helping companies figure out how
to navigate their challenges with government and regulation. It really

(35:40):
wasn't until twenty seventeen when I hooked up with this
trialer Michael Watts that Chris's referenced, and he said, I
think your utility up there in northern California started these fires,
and I think these people deserve justice. How can you help?
And I'm like, well, I'm from northern California, from the
north by the Bay Area. So we got to work

(36:04):
and I found my calling at fifty something years old, right,
I mean, it's a weird thing, right, how life just works.
And since that time twenty seventeen, I've been working on
wildfire work. And you know, the sad part about it

(36:25):
is that it keeps happening, right, Utilities keep sparking wildfires.
There are two principal things about doing this work, sort
of they keep me going. One is to get justice
for people who have been harmed through no fault of
their own. But the other is to try to change
the behavior that creates the conditions under which they're harmed.

(36:49):
And lawyers, you know, get a bad rap, right, and
there's good reason for that. Not every lawyer is perfect, right,
But we made PGI a better company. They're not perfect,
don't may wrong, But we put in place a bunch
of things through the litigation and with the help of
public policymakers like Chris and the governor at the time,

(37:13):
to try to lay a foundation to try to stop
this from happening. It just so happens Edison unfortunately didn't
follow what they should have followed. They had the tool
to turn the power off, they had the regulatory approval
to do it, and they didn't do it. And so
we're going to shine a big, bright light on that
because that's incredibly important. We're also going to make them
pay billions of dollars, right, because that's the harm they caused.

(37:35):
The hope in that process is that by doing so,
by paying billions of dollars, by having the light shine
on their behavior, it encourages them to change that behavior
in the future. And their board of directors and their
shareholders who do not want to pay this money. But
it was not anybody's fault except for the people in

(37:56):
that C suite who made those decisions that set of
days that couldn't stop this from happening. And so to
bring it full circle, this is what I've decided to
do with the last or later chapter you know, of
my life and I and I hope that when it's
all said and done, not only we got injustice for

(38:17):
the people of Altadina, but that we try to avoid
these things from happening again, so the next community isn't
faced with this. And I'll just take one point of
personal privilege. I also my sister liud Mallebu and lost
her home in the Palisades fire. She's a renter without insurance,
which is the hardest people to represent. And you know,

(38:40):
the sad part about the Palisades fire is that there's
no culpable party on the other side. We couldn't figure
out who was responsible for that, right and Chris talked
about how the first thirty days we don't do any
advertising of our firms. We try to figure out what happened.
It's because you can't get it wrong. You got to
get it right right. You can't hotel a group of people,

(39:01):
hey go srough the utility, and then find out six
weeks later or two months later, a year later that
you were wrong, because now you've given all these people
hope that there's going to be something at the end
of this process. So we do the hard work to
get it right. And I think that my history, our
track record shows that we've done okay in that regard

(39:23):
and getting the people what they deserve.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
So what happens from your experience or your connection to
them emotionally, to people and families when they believe rightfully
so that they've been kind of let down by the system.
How do you I know that you have a monthly
health a mental health Monday session to support those folks.

(39:51):
What else is happening? And I'm asking this question, and
some of it may be seem obvious, but I'm asking
the question just because these are real human beings. Like
we're talking about the amount of money that it's going
to take to support these families toward rebuilding their physical home.
But what is happening with the actual community members, what's

(40:15):
happening with them today? What do they need? How can
they best be.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
Supported I've done. I've sat across the table from countless,
probably thousands of people at this point who have been
through this. They're broken, and you know it's tragic. Our
brains are not wired to flee from walls of fire,

(40:43):
that's right, and they are truly broken. And the first
thing I tell them is, look, I'm going to tell
you what your lego rights are. You have to make
a decision as to whether or not you want to
join this litigation to try to get justice from the wrongdoer.
But the first thing you need to do is take
care of yourself. And I'm meeting with strong mountains, big

(41:07):
dudes like who are sitting in your office crying, or
moms who want to be the backbone of the family
but can't seem like get up in the morning. And
so there's a whole bunch of self care that has
to happen. And that's why we do mental health mondays,
and that's why we turn people onto the types of
resources that we have from either NGOs or government agencies

(41:32):
helping them with insurance issues, because if you have insurance,
that's where you should go first. That's how you actually
get the resources. If you don't have insurance. You know,
it's FEMA, and it's very, very hard, and so it
is the hardest thing that I do in the beginning
of the process is to sit across the table from

(41:54):
people who simply have been through something that no one
should ever have to go through, and they're looking at you,
maybe as a lawyer, but really just as another human
being who is able to listen. And that's like the
biggest part of my job in the first few months

(42:17):
is just listening and trying to direct them to the
right places. But I know Chris is unfortunately, I mean,
Chris has been fantastic addition to the team because he
brings a set of experiences that no one else in
the community has, but he's now experiencing things for the
first time as well that he probably I mean, as
an elect official, you probably dealt with tragedy, but I

(42:37):
don't know if you've dealt with it on this scale.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
So yeah, I think probably the real challenge when you're
sitting and listening to the stories. Everyone has somewhat of
a unique story, but it's the ones where they almost
don't have to tell their story because it shows on

(43:01):
their face that dishoveled look, that what did I just
go through that. I'm stunned that, you know, if I
move a little bit this way, I feel a little dizzy.
I'm not balanced. My life has been destabilized that I
may be able at some point sit with folks like

(43:24):
at LA Fire Justice and try to think about and
talk about what my loss was. We try to encourage
them to start now to dry whatever pops into your
mind so you can at least so we can be
in a best position of get getting what you lost
return to you in some form of fashion monetarily. But

(43:45):
there's so much that people have lost that they're never
going to get back. It's what they call priceless photos,
keepsakes generationally passed jewelry or artifacts that pictures of their
grandfather from World War One, you know, those type of things,

(44:06):
lineages that are established in photos and family reunions and
things along the lines that those are memories that are
going to either have to be held in their thoughts
or if they happen to have it on a cell phone.
But if it was something passed down generationally, it's gone.
A good friend of mine who attended the same high

(44:27):
school that I did and had played basketball at passing
high school where I attended, and interestingly and coincidentally, Michael
Cooper who's come back out and does some really important
things to let the community know he's there as well
and watching and being supportive. So there's that. But when
I talked to this individual and he loved basketball and

(44:51):
still loved it today, I don't know how much he
loves it today because so much of what he was
about was lost from those years that he played in
high school, pictures, awards, things of that nature that he
put a lot of value behind. And so when you
come to grips with that, when you hear from from

(45:15):
people who are sharing with you that that night they
have a video and they show you the video that
they're fleeing from their home, that the back part of
the home is on fire as they run out of
the front part. The mental anguish that they are enduring,

(45:35):
and that moment is something we say, you don't want
to say, hold on to it, but it is part
of this case too. It is part of the experience
and what damaged that fire has done to people on
an emotional level. So there are there are lanes here
that we are very equipped to navigate through. But like

(45:59):
with Metal Health Monday. We thought it was important that
for the wellness of folks as they are finding themselves
in now that they have at least an outlet that
we can provide a service in this space to have
professionals come in and talk about a variety of areas
of what trauma looks like and how to start making

(46:21):
their way as best as possible to a more sturdy
place emotionally. So those are elements that we take to heart.
People that I've personally known, schools that burned down that
I attended. So it's all very personal for me because

(46:43):
I grew up in these communities Capacadena, Altadena and playing
on you know, those earlier years in basketball leagues, after
school programs that you play another school. That type of
thing is just a young kid, But those are memories
that I have, and I know that for so many

(47:08):
who've had to go through these type of challenges, it's
it's real and it's and it impacts on you, you know,
as best you can to try to be there to
support because you know some of these folks and you
know their families and you now are hearing their tragic stories.
It's it's hard to shake it.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
We have one additional thing that we're doing, which which
is interesting and unique. We've got a program we're sponsoring
called Ashes and Echoes. It's an oral history project where
if there's a member of the community who's been impacted devastated,
will come in and they can tell their story to it.

(47:52):
You know, we're recording it video and audio, and it'll
become part of a program, you know, a living oral
history of what happened. And sometimes people different people react
different ways. Sometimes people want to tell their story, like
this needs to happen. I need to tell my story.
It's part of their cathartic process. Other people are very

(48:13):
much insular and don't want to do that. But I
just thought of that might be something that might be
interesting to your listeners too.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
Yeah. Absolutely, because it really it comes down to the story.
And sometimes it's the story. It's a story that happened
up until the disaster hits. But then there's another chapter
that happens afterwards, you know, where real leadership kind of
has to come out where and when you have to

(48:43):
lead your family in a different way. How do we
make sure that these communities aren't just because again we're
talking about the physicality of a building and that kind
of infrastructure. But how do we make sure that these
communities are actually restored, you know the community you know
involved in the Eaton fire or affected by the impacted

(49:05):
by the Eating fire, or in Lahaina or any of
these other disasters.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
Well, a lot of that's going to be how effective
local government in this case, because it's out to the
data in an unincorporated area that the governance support is
through the LA County and the LA County Board Supervisors.
It's the kind of programs that they can start to
initiate for those who are looking to rebuild. How effective

(49:35):
can they facilitate a review of applications, get those approved
out of the process, and get people to a place
who are ready and able to start that rebuild, to
do so without unnecessary delays. I know that they're doing
working hard to try to make that happen. I know
the governor has made that a key directive in terms

(49:57):
of state oversight, that not to put up unnecessary, you know,
barriers for folks to get back to to rebuild. And
they know that they have established different styles because Altadena
was a conglaboration of a flight of different architectural styles

(50:18):
from Spanish to Jane cottages to bungalows and craftsman style
frame and stucco, you know, depending on what era. But
all of that together made it a very from an
architectural standpoint, made it a very interesting community. You would
have high end homes in some neighborhoods and all across

(50:39):
Altadena in the foothills, and some that are more modest.
But how quickly one can get through a process and
get back to taking control of their land being able
to rebuild for some that is a big deal. And
and just to see that, and I will give a

(51:00):
shout out to the Army Corps of Engineers and to FEMA.
The process of how quickly they've gone throughout the d
cleaning up the sites and now making their way to
the commercial sites, I think is a big is very
It's noteworthy. But I will put an add on to that,

(51:21):
what about the soil. You know, if we can understand
that the soil is clean or clean to appropriate standard,
that makes sense. But if you're expecting people to build
on dirty land, that doesn't make sense.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
I would look to the experiences that some of these
other impacted communities have had to answer the question and
let me give you a couple of examples. In Lahina,
you have a Native Hawaiian population which was severely impacted.
And if you know anything about Hawaii in its history,
it's a little bit of torture history. Because of the

(52:01):
influence that settlers and people who've come over in statehood
and everything else has had on the Native Hawaine population,
there was an opportunity. I don't want to call it
a silver lining, because there's no silver linings when your
community is destroyed and one hundred and two people are killed,
But there is an opportunity there to hit the reset

(52:21):
button a little bit. And I think that the same
thing happened in Paradise. The opportunity to hit the reset
button means that a community like Altadena, which is now
facing this long process of rebuilding, has the opportunity to
come together as a community to figure out what their
community wants to be. Do they have it in them

(52:47):
to come together as a community, have disparate groups of
people to figure out what they want to solve. The
may be the issues that they had previously. Right, That
an opportunity, Because sometimes that doesn't people won't take advantage
of that. They may get in their silo. I'm only

(53:08):
speaking from someone who's observed it from the outside. Right
in Santa Rosa and Paradise where this is now seven
eight years later, right in where Alahaina we're coming up
on the two year anniversary, I've seen them seize the
opportunity to try to solve some of the issues that
might have been lingering. And so I think while we're

(53:31):
really early on in this recovery phase of what's happening
in Altadena, I think the kernels or the seeds are
there for this to happen, and I think there's leadership.
There's probably some leaders that we haven't even seen yet
actually that will end up coming out of this, and
future leaders of this community who will have the ability

(53:51):
to navigate the challenges and try to come up with
some cohesive view of how we look and how we
create a better society and a better community. And and
for that all says from my perspective as a lawyers,
simply to provide, you know, the resources that come in
through the litigation and through a settlement that allow people

(54:12):
to be able to rebuild the structures, but in terms
of their lives and the interconnections between people, you know,
that falls on, as Chris said, on the community and
their government leaders to try to bring them together in
a forum where they can act in concert. So I'm
optimistic about that.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
Actually I am as well. There is a there is
a community of community residents and business owners who have
been really impacted, and that is the small business owner,
especially if their building did not It's hard to say
it that way, but for those whose buildings are still

(54:52):
standing but the neighborhood and all their client tile is
gone and they still have a to meet, they still
have other obligations. They're in a very unique position right
now and they need help in a unique way as
well to keep their business alive until the building of

(55:15):
neighborhood starts to happen. We're trying to fill that they
we can't fill it, but we're trying to do the
best we can to sort of recognize that issue. We're
on the twenty third, if I'm shameless, plug plug away.
On August twenty third, we're going to have a block party.

(55:36):
And this is in my neighborhood. I've been doing it
for about twenty six years or thereabouts as a council
member or mayor and then as Assembly member because it
was also a resource fair, and I thought, once I
was out of office, then that probably means that we're
not going to need to do this anymore. Until I

(55:56):
was visiting one of the local businesses and I saw
Webster's Pharmacy and they had a number of local businesses
that they were putting shelf space available so they could
put their product out and sell it, whether it's candles
or you name it. And so I thought, well, maybe
this is an opportunity for us to take what was

(56:16):
really something for the community free of charge, Come and
have a good time, live music, resources of the community,
so you can find out what's going on to meet
your needs and turn it around and make it a
place where these local merchants and small business owners and
who also lost their home, but their home their business
was in their home, those folks to have a place

(56:39):
where they can set up a canopy and sell their
products to the community, for us to come in and
support them, not just Altadenians, but people from within the
range of your broadcasts to know that this is happening
and this is a way to help some of these
local folks, whether it's the farmer's market and the fruits

(56:59):
and vegetables. I love the one in East Pasadena and
the one next to me and lack An out of
flint Ridge, but skip it for a day and maybe
come to this one evening so you do your shopping there.
There will be merchants that have small businesses of arts
and crafts, and then we have the other things, live
bands that will be performing in classic car shows. And

(57:21):
obviously the major supporter for this is La Fire Justice
to make it happen, and so we will have tables,
but it's really just there to be supportive of the community.
But for those who are have interest and want to
understand and find themselves wanting to get more information, we're
there to provide them in the fullness of what that
represents for programs, as Doug's pointed out, rebuilding programs that

(57:45):
we have that we're putting forth workshops so that people
understand what that looks like to mental health. It's a
holistic approach to addressing a crisis that I think is
one where I again, as I say, lines up with
my values and I'm proud to be a part of
being a part of not just meeting the needs currently

(58:05):
what the community is, but being a part of the
rebuilding after going forward.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
I'm from Brooklyn, so you can have me at block
party Block Party August twenty third, are they Yeah, I'm
from Brooklyn, and you know once Brooklyn's in there forever,
forever and ever. Two quick questions. One is you mentioned

(58:38):
justice and healing right, and I love the fact that
you mentioned both. What does justice look like to each
of you and what does healing look like?

Speaker 1 (58:51):
I view justice and a lens as a lawyer, which
means and I have an ethical responsibility to do this
for each and every client, which is to get them
what they deserve from a wrongdoer. That's what gets me
up every morning. Obviously other people have notions of justice
which are maybe much broader, but in the lens that

(59:14):
I wake up every day and do this, and that's
that's that's my limited focus on this job. Healing. Healing
is a really hard one to answer because I think
it looks different for everybody. I've have clients who are
seemingly healed relatively quickly once they get through the trauma

(59:36):
and they get the help that they need to handle it.
I have others who are broken forever because the process
that the experience that they went through is so challenging
for them to even comprehend that. It's a lifelong effort. Yeah,

(59:58):
to try to get your headspace back to where it
was before it happened. Because you remember, if you're listening,
you're thinking about this, and you're looking around the house
that you're sitting and listening to this. Just look around
and realize everything everything is ash and gone. Your wedding dress,
your family photo albums, the metal you earned for winning

(01:00:22):
the contest, the debate contest. Maybe you have a child
who passed before you and you have their ashes in
an urn gone. For many people, that's overwhelming and they
just can't do it. So healing is a really difficult one.

(01:00:43):
I thank you for asking the question, because I think
as people are listening, you think about what is that
cealing mean for me? I have a very simple, what
seems like a very simple job in the context of
what my clients have to go through. I have to
go prove that has since started the fire, which we've done,

(01:01:05):
and then I have to prove how that fire damaged
each client, which we're in the process of doing. When
I finished that and I've settled a case, my job
on those four corners of the page are done, but
the client's job is not done. I have to deal
with this for a long time, and so I still

(01:01:25):
talk to clients who we've resolved cases for, I become friends,
try to provide answers and direction for people. But it's
a really hard question, and it's one that I probably
need to continue to educate myself on what healing truly means.
So I appreciate the question. I wish I had a
better answer.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
That's an answer.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Yeah. I would say that justice, as I would view
it through my lens, is that the people who have
been wronged are treated with dignity and respect. These are
folks who have lived lives that throughout their lives, dignity
was always being taken away, even probably trying to move

(01:02:10):
into these neighborhoods. You know, redlining laws as they were
made it very difficult for these families to even call
out to Dina home. And when they were able to
identify a pathway and fight through the indignity, that was

(01:02:31):
the barriers sometimes to entry into being able to be homeowners.
Now fast forward to this time and this space, and
to have this happen to folks who, in many ways
and often had their homes paid full and clear because
they took pride they were going to figure it out

(01:02:53):
own your home, you know, and they were able to
do that. Respect that the process works that and respects
what they have had to go through and in many
areas of this, the recovery and how we're managing the

(01:03:16):
different elements of where people are in this process. It's
never happened before. So that's incumbent upon the governmental leaders
to create something brand new. Yeah, don't operate within the
tight little confines of a box that well, we've out
this is how we've always done it. Well, you've never
done anything like this before. You've never had to encounter

(01:03:37):
the hardship that it's creating, and the tragedy and the
trail of hurt and devastation, including nineteen people who lost
their lives. So break the mold, you know, find the resources,
you know, make sure that the soil is clean, make
sure that people who are getting resources to help them.

(01:04:01):
Now we talked a little bit about the philanthropic work
and money that's been raised. I want to hope that
that's getting out to the community and to the broad
swath of people who are still dealing with the basic
necessities where drive through distribution centers are still being packed.

(01:04:25):
You know, those who are looking to rebuild, and then
there are those who are still trying to get some
essentials that they still need because they're bouncing around from
a hotel to adu to friends couch to this, so
they're still in a distabled place. The media may not
be covering it, but that's what's happening.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
That's why we're talking about it too.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
That's why you're talking about it, and I appreciate that,
and I think that that's really getting to their story
because there's so many different levels of that healing. As
Doug would say, it's kind of like how do you
do with the death of a loved one. You know,
I just lost my dad. I'm sorry, so oh thank you.

(01:05:09):
But when you're close to that moment and you're laying
that person to rest that you know is not going
to be calling you anymore, then you're still at that
place where, well, I can't erase Dad's message because his
voice is still on that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
I still have. Both of my parents passed away, and
my mother left a message on an answering machine that
is sitting in the top of my closet at my house,
in my house on the East coast, and my mother
passed away in two thousand and eight, my father in

(01:05:46):
twenty thirteen. I've not been able to listen to that message. Yeah,
you know. And so as you were talking about what
people have lost, you know, I started going through my
own life and the little, you know, pottery thing, little
ashtray that I made for my dad. But I was
like eleven that I now have, and you know, and

(01:06:07):
that you know, the phone and the answering machine and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Yeah, well and just when you start thinking about it,
even though it was two thousand and eight, you feel
those emotions coming right back. And I just think that,
as Duck said, healing is a squishy and morphous type
of thing. We may not be able to completely get
our arms around because the pain and trauma is so deep.

(01:06:36):
And as I mentioned my friend earlier in this conversation
that he just had a dishoveled look because every day
you wake up and you're in a place that's not
your home. Yeah it's not. You thought you thought of
everything that you lost until you someone sends you a
picture and it's like, oh, there's that lamp. Wow, I

(01:06:57):
forgot about that lamp, you know, and it has a
variety of value associated with it. So I just think
that maybe if you're really young and you're the child,
the parents, the older ones who are now ulfately dealing
with the managing of the problems and the issues and

(01:07:19):
what next looks like the kids, it's like, okay, as
long as I'm getting back to school and I connect
with my friends, but even their lives have been disrupted
for those schools that are burned down and those so
healing for young people that's going to be a little
bit different, and maybe it's shorter for older they're going
to be carrying this for a while.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
I think that justice is part of healing. I think
that the how is part of healing, meaning that you
are supporting these this community in these communities with respect
and with empathy and with an understanding that it's both
about the physical home and the articles that are within

(01:08:02):
the home, but it's also about their dignity and their
lives and being able to have space created for them
where they can heal together and figure out what that's
going to look like. I think that allowing leaders to
step forward within the community that can help to rebuild

(01:08:23):
in a new way, whatever that looks like. I think
all of that is part of healing. I think justice
is within the healing. And then once you all continue
to do all the work that you're doing, then each
individual and each family can figure out how to round

(01:08:45):
that out and what that looks like for them. But
what you all are doing is such important work, and
it would be one thing to kind of get into
your office as an attorney or as the CEO. And
I'm sorry, for some reason, it did not realize that
you were the CEO until you mentioned it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
I'm so sorry. Oh no, No, that's okay, that's okay.
I you know, I was a chair of appropriations and
I never wear labels. You know, I may have the label,
but I don't wear it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:18):
Well, I wanted to acknowledge it, gracious about it. I
just want I wanted to make sure that I did
say that.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
I appreciate that. Can I just say one thing off
of what you said? Yes? Please? Because after our town
hall from last week, and it was the the day
that Southern California rolled out a concept. When I say so,
Edison rolled out the concept of how they want to
engage with victims of the fire. I remember one lady

(01:09:48):
came up to me and she said, I actually just
want them to take responsibility and say, we screwed up.
We burned down your town. It was our equipment. The
whole world knows it. And now you're kind of standing

(01:10:10):
over there saying, well, sign this paper possibly if that's
what it looks like, and but oh you can't. We're
not going to take responsibility. That is key to healing
because if they would say what we already know and
they know that, yeah, we failed, there's redemption in that

(01:10:35):
there's the ability for people to heal, and then for
them to heal too, for everyone, for everybody to heal.
And I thought that was really that was quite a
takeaway from me. The lawsuit and everything and all the
other different components are important, but the thing that she
said was I want them to take responsibility, and that,

(01:10:59):
I think for he puts her on the path of feeling.

Speaker 3 (01:11:02):
Yeah, And I think you all are taking responsibility. You're
taking responsibility for the communities that are affected. You're taking
responsibility for whatever skill set, whatever experience, whatever you have
developed up until the time that you chose to join

(01:11:22):
La Fire Justice. And I think that's a remarkable thing.
How can we support you?

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
I think that for us, the biggest challenge is operating
in a little tiny corner of LA County with eight
and a half nine million people, when there's about twenty
five thousand people that we need to communicate with right,
So we do our best through a team of very
dedicated individuals to educate victims and survivors on their rights.

(01:11:52):
You're doing it today with this show, and to me,
just keep talking about what it is that's out there. Look,
I'm a lawyer that represents people. There are good law
firms out there. The most important thing that can come
out of this is that every person who has been
impacted by this utilities failure failures is to hold them accountable.

(01:12:19):
I think there is some great wisdom in the notion
that if they would just admit it, that would be
a big part of the healing. I can't tell you
they are going to do that, but if the entire
impacted community acts together to take action to try to
hold them accountable, it sends a big message, and to me,
that's every day. I just want to get this message

(01:12:42):
out to as many people as we can, whether they
come join our effort or whether they decide to go
with another law firm. Everyone is impacted should hold them
accountable and then we can begin to move forward to
try to stop this from happening again and send them
message that you can't just do this with impunity. Right,
don't try to get out of your responsibilities. Don't go

(01:13:03):
to the legislature and tell them you need to change
the law because it's onerous. No, just change your behavior, right,
It's not that hard. Yes, people will be a little
upset that they lost all the food in the fridge
when you turn the power off, a lot less angry
than killing people, that's right, and destroying their lives and livelihoods,

(01:13:24):
that's right. So, yeah, you're doing this. You've done a
tremendous service to the impacted community. So I appreciate you
for having us.

Speaker 3 (01:13:31):
You're welcome. And for those who are listening, how can
how can LA Fire Justice get supported by the broader community,
those who are listening, those who want to help, those
who have resources to help, those who are looking for
a way to be able to join forces and build

(01:13:52):
community around this impacted community.

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
What can they do well? We are unlike I think
many of the other law firms that are out there.
We have an office at two two one East Walnut
Sweet one hundred. The lease has been signed for five years.
We have a team of people who we are assembled

(01:14:15):
and are assembling more that are from the community, that
understand the community. And so if the need is to
have legal representation, that's where we're located and we're not
going anywhere. But then people can drop in the number

(01:14:36):
I don't have committed to memory.

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
We can get that from you. We'll make sure that
that's in the show notes, and we'll also send it
out in the news letter.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
I appreciate that. I would also augment what Chris said
by if you are an organization that's providing resources to
the community, we want to know. We send out I
draft a weekly update to our clients which includes a
section on resources. So if there is a food giveaway,
a backpack giveaway, if there are other types of things

(01:15:06):
where an NGO or other even a business is supporting
people who have suffered loss in the fire, we want
to know about it. We will also show up at
anyone else's event if invited, to provide information about what
we're doing. So that just extends our reach, right, we
can do what we can do. But the one to many,

(01:15:29):
which is what this show is about. The one to
many is the way we reach the people who needs
assistance and so as as Chris said, we have a
team of people community outreach representatives who will show up
at your events. If you're bringing people together to disseminate
either resources or information, we want to be there.

Speaker 2 (01:15:50):
And as we say, if someone happens to be an
expert or professional in the mental health space, we're putting
together panels every month, once a month and dealing with
different levels and dynamics of that. Yeah, we're and sometimes
just reaching out to us. There may be not the

(01:16:11):
right alignment of how we can, but we can redirect
because we now also over this period of time, are
developing a resource base of organizations and groups out there
who are also looking for on the ground support and
so we can help in a variety of ways and
also directing folks to community based groups that are really

(01:16:34):
doing some great work out there.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
That's incredible. I think the days of looking at Uncle Sam,
I'm dating myself, the government, the government looking at the
government to take care of everything. Yes, there's a responsibility,
there's an accountability to us as the people and I

(01:16:57):
think that one of the things coming out of everything
that's been happening over the last few years is that
the more we can depend on each other, the more
that we can come together as community and support each other,
the better we all are. Because I think that's the thing,
that's the behavior that's really going to help us to

(01:17:19):
move to into the next chapter as as a as
a culture and as a society. It's us understanding that
it's us and government and we have to do it together.
And for those of us who can or have the
ability or the skill set, it's this is a rally
cry to step up, to step up to this uh cause,

(01:17:44):
and to step up to whatever it is that's happening
where we can come, you know, come in and contribute,
just as YouTube gentlemen have done and the team you know,
the teams that you work with. So I want to
thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:17:55):
Well, you know what they say, it takes a village,
it does.

Speaker 1 (01:17:58):
It truly does say someone famous had a book, It.

Speaker 3 (01:18:03):
Truly truly does. That's what it looks like in action.
I want to thank you all so very much. I
know you're very busy, and the fact that you were
willing to come and I said this at the beginning,
and I'll book end with that with this is. I
really appreciate it, and I appreciate your willingness to share
what's happening with this community and with other communities like it, unfortunately,

(01:18:26):
And thank you for doing the great work. Really, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:18:29):
For having us. Yeah, appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (01:18:31):
Good to teach you.