Fire Recovery Fund for Troy & Rachel

We are the Bartons, family friends of our beloved Troy and Rachel Collins, who are among the refugees of the Palisades Fire. We are from Malibu, CA, and know Troy and Rachel through the Pepperdine community. Like many of you, we want to help them as they start over. The funds you contribute will go to their costs for temporary lodging as they find a new place to live and replacing all of their belongings (e.g., clothing, kitchen supplies, furniture, toiletries), since very little from their apartment will be salvageable.

Thank you for your help!

Sara & John Barton and Falon & Nate Barton (Malibu, CA)

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A note from Troy and Rachel:

Hi all — thank you to the numerous friends and family for reaching out. We thought putting this information all in one place would be the most helpful for those checking in and wanting to assist.

We were unfortunately affected by the devastating Palisades Fire that wiped out the beloved Pacific Palisades community and continues to burn across LA County. We lived in the heart of the Palisades and called it home ever since we got married six years ago.

The short of it is, everything around us burned and our place has been deemed completely uninhabitable. We are staring down a near total loss of everything we owned due to the massive smoke damage, and we are looking for a new place to live. In essence, we are starting over.

It is hard to communicate how special the Palisades was to us. Everyone at the YMCA knew our names and now it’s rubble. Our beloved coffee shop across our alley is gone. The Gelsons Troy would walk to for “that one item Rachel forgot for cooking dinner” is unrecognizable. The people were incredible, our neighbors were our friends, we knew all the dogs on our walking routes by name. It made a big city feel small and our marriage was formed in this community. We are so grieved.

A lot of you lovely people have asked about contributing to some sort of fund, and we were reluctant to set one up, but if you would like to help as we figure out a new normal and deal with unexpected costs as we move forward, here is the link. Stay safe out there!