Friday, June 27, 2025

Hundreds Build Hope For Eaton Fire Victims At Brookside Park Event

Video Courtesy PASADENA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

As many as 400 volunteers and donors gathered at Brookside Park on Thursday to construct wall panels and framing components for homes destroyed in the devastating Eaton Fire, as part of a community rebuilding effort following a major foundation grant.

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity hosted and organized the “Walls of Hope: Altadena Strong” event, following a record $4.55 million grant from the Altadena Builds Back Foundation to rebuild homes over three years, announced June 23.

The Altadena Builds Back Foundation, established in March as a subsidiary of the Pasadena Community Foundation, awarded the grant to support the rebuilding of homes for fire victims.

The partnership between San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity and The Foothill Catalog Foundation brought together hundreds of community members to build walls, shelves and cabinets for 22 homes for Altadena residents.

The volunteer effort included fire survivors who lost their own homes but continue helping others. Among them is Nikki Payton, a nurse and single mother of three daughters who received a Habitat for Humanity home in Lynwood in 2014, according to the Pasadena Star-News.

“They did so much for me. I wanted to give back,” Payton told the newspaper. Her ex-husband lost his home in the Eaton Fire, and she grew up in Altadena. “I’m not in Altadena physically, but I’m still part of it.”

Kenneth Wood Sr., an 85-year-old Eaton Fire victim, expressed amazement at the rebuilding timeline in an interview with ABC7.

“When I heard it’s possible it might be back within a year, I thought, ‘Now that’s impossible. That’s not going to happen,'” Wood told ABC7. “This is beyond any belief I had. I lost everything. All my memories and things went with the house. This is a wonderful thing to happen to me.”

Among other volunteers is Georgia Law, a 78-year-old Salvation Army volunteer who lost her home in the fire but continues her decades-long commitment to community service, according to Caring Magazine.

“My father’s rule was if you see something needs to be done, don’t ask, just do it,” Law told Caring Magazine. “I separate the food, I stock the food, I mop, I sweep—whatever they need me to do, I’ll do it.”

“Pasadena Community Foundation and its supporting organization Altadena Builds Back Foundation believe that recovery must begin with — and be led by— our community,” Candice Kim, ABBF Project Director, said when announcing the grant. “This inaugural grant is a powerful first step for ABBF.”

5,424 fire-damaged properties have been cleared of debris by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as of Monday, June 23,  according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Sonny Avichal.

The wall panels and framing components constructed during the Brookside Park event will be used in the rebuilding of homes for families affected by the Eaton Fire and other recent wildfires in the region.