Aid for Julie, Brian & Bella's Fire Recovery

I write to you as a friend and former Pasadena neighbor of Julie and Brian Leto and Bella Flad. Overnight between Tuesday, January 7 and Wednesday, January 8th, 2025 Julie and Brian Leto and Bella Flad lost their beautiful home on Vinedo Avenue in Pasadena to the historic wildfires in Southern California, specifically the Eaton Fire. Thankfully, they had evacuated, but unfortunately flying embers found the back of their home. Neighbors fought the fire from 8:30 pm on Tuesday night until 7 am the next morning, led by the efforts of their neighbor, retired fire captain Rich Snyder. He tells the story of the harrowing evening, in which he saved many homes and lives on Vinedo in this news clip . Sadly, you can see the rubble of Julie and Brian's home in the backdrop during his interviews in the clip. Despite Rich and neighbors’ heroic attempts, the Leto’s entire home and garage burned into rubble and they lost everything; only the facade remains.

I write to you, as a dear friend of Julie and her former neighbor from directly across the street (who happily viewed the facade of their gracious home from my front window for so many years) to seek financial support for Brian, Julie, and Bella as they navigate the aftermath of this terrible tragedy which has struck so many in the greater Los Angeles area. As you know, Julie gives so much to our community through her volunteer work in schools with children; all of her books and self-created instructional materials were lost and need to be replaced. Bella is in her senior year of college, incredibly exciting after losing her senior year of high school to the Covid pandemic.

Funds raised through this effort will be used to purchase necessary items to rebuild Julie, Brian and Bella's home and lives. Much remains unclear about the future as they navigate this but they are strong, determined, and so very grateful that they have a neighborhood community to return to (unlike so many others in nearby Altadena). We know that many friends and family want to support them financially as they need to buy the day-to-day necessities as well as fund the rebuild, so I have created this GoFundMe to make it easier for people to do so. Any gift, no matter how small, will go a long way to help them out. Thank you for considering.

With care,

Kristin Papoi