Friday, May 15, 2026

Odyssey Charter Schools Hosts Run-for-Fun Fundraisers at Both Altadena Campuses

[photo credit: Odyssey Charter Schools]

A year after OCS South reopened on West Altadena Drive, the annual tradition brings students and families together one block apart

For the first time since the Eaton Fire scattered its students across borrowed classrooms in Pasadena, Odyssey Charter Schools will hold its annual Run-for-Fun fundraiser with both campuses operating from permanent homes on the same Altadena block.

The school is hosting simultaneous events Friday at its two West Altadena Drive campuses: “Stronger Together: Run For Fun 2026″ at Odyssey Charter School, and “Bounce to the Future,” an obstacle course, at OCS South. Both events run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and are open to students, families and community supporters, according to the school.

The two campuses sit roughly one block apart — Odyssey Charter at 725 W. Altadena Drive and OCS South at 575 W. Altadena Drive. That proximity is new. The Eaton Fire destroyed OCS South’s original campus at 119 W. Palm Street on January 7-8, 2025, displacing 375 students and gutting four and a half buildings on the site. The Odyssey Charter campus, also known as the North campus, sustained minimal damage — some downed trees and smoke residue. At least 40 percent of OCS South families also lost their homes, according to CalMatters.

OCS South had opened in August 2018 as Odyssey’s second campus. For the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year after the fire, its students attended classes in scattered locations — older students at ArtCenter College of Design’s Pasadena campus, younger students at Boys & Girls Club facilities. The school reopened at its current address in January 2026, moving into a building on West Altadena Drive that had previously housed Aveson Global Leadership Academy.

“Odyssey is not about buildings,” Executive Director Dr. Carlos Garcia Saldaña said when the campus opened in January. “We are a community first, and then we are teachers, administrators, and students.”

Principals Bonnie Brimecombe of OCS South and Linda Bañuelos of Odyssey Charter School are expected to participate in Friday’s events. The Run-for-Fun is an annual tradition at Odyssey; last year’s edition, held in May 2025 while OCS South students were still learning in temporary spaces, was branded “HomeRUN 4 Odyssey” and raised money to rebuild the South Campus, ABC7 reported at the time.

Odyssey Charter Schools, founded in 1999 as the first charter school approved by the Los Angeles County Office of Education, operates both campuses as public, tuition-free TK-8 schools serving approximately 830 students across Altadena and the surrounding Pasadena area.

For information, contact Odyssey Charter School at 626-229-0993 or OCS South at 626-209-5635. The school’s website is odysseycharterschool.org.

The paired names tell the story: one campus runs toward strength, the other bounces toward the future. Both run on the same street now.