Help Ana and David Get Back on their Feet After Eaton Fire

Hi folks,

I’m writing on behalf of my mother, Ana Haddad, and step-father, David Haddad (who you might know as David Landia), who lost their home and just about all of their material belongings in the Eaton fire (they got out with a single change of clothes and a couple of guitars!). Contributions to this fund will go toward their long term goals of getting back on their feet and to meeting their immediate needs, especially by facilitating my mother’s capacity to continue in her role as a kindergarten teacher for LAUSD in such a tumultuous time.

Like many in Altadena, my mother came to the community in the 1980s with little more than the desire to build a life for and with her neighbors and family. She found opportunities to do so through Pasadena and Altadena’s community organizations, educational institutions, and people, who helped her find her way as a kindergarten teacher with LAUSD. Her career enabled her to buy her 2 bedroom unit in Altadena and further her commitment to care– to me as her son, to family in need, to her neighbors, and to her school. She continues to serve as a teacher and advocate for her students and their families, a mentor to her fellow teachers, and an active contributor to the long term cultural health of her school and community.

She was able to build a life and home that could become the shared project of herself and David, who together made a space that cradled and built on decades of family history and fostered dreams of a hopeful future whose spark they shared with others through everything they did, from Ana’s teaching to David’s music-making and community service.

But now, after decades of home-building and with Ana in her last year of teaching before her intended retirement, the two are faced with the need to rebuild after the Eaton fire. Any donation at this critical time will help them get back to making their home and community, most immediately by helping my mom show up completely for her students when they need her support the most.

Thanks,

Alden