
Rebuilding Fund for Chris and Ashlyn Mangandi
Donation protected
Chris and Ashlyn lost their home and most of their personal belongings two nights ago in the Eaton fire. They are in a state of shock, trying to make sense of a material and psychic loss of devastating proportions while taking care of their three girls (ages 11, 9 and 8) and navigating the byzantine world of insurance claims, filings, and payouts. They've been reluctant to ask for money, but some of us convinced them that they may need an influx of cash to help them over the coming days and weeks and months as they try to put their lives back together.
After receiving the mandatory evacuation notice in the early evening of Tuesday, January 7, Ashlyn took the girls to her mom's house in Shadow Hills. Chris stayed behind at their home in Altadena, packing some important items and getting other things in order. He ended up staying until 2:40 a.m., watching the fire in the distance, convinced that it would never reach them. He drove to his mother-in-law's house to join Ashlyn and his children and to get some sleep.
At 6:40 in the morning, he was jolted awake by the alarm alerts on his phone. As he tells it, "I didn't know if the house had been broken into, but I raced back home from Shadow Hills. The alert was for the guest house sliding door and front door. When the alert for the main house came through, I knew we were in flames. The smoke made it look like I was driving into a war zone. When I exited the freeway, it was pure chaos. There were fires all around and you couldn't see through the smoke, but people were still driving up the hill because there were no emergency vehicles anywhere. I got a few blocks from my house but it was as far as I could go. There were flames and smoke all around me. It was awful."
Chris and Ashlyn have lived in their beautiful home in the beautiful foothills of Altadena for 13 years. This is the only home their three children have ever known. And now it's gone. Ashlyn's employer has generously put them up in an apartment in Burbank, but this is only a temporary dwelling. They need our financial support to get back on their feet. Please consider donating.
They will use this money to rent a house, purchase clothing and other necessities for themselves and the girls, and for the various sundry expenses that will inevitably arise in the difficult and unpredictable time ahead.
Organizer and beneficiary
Scott Schoenberg
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Chris Mangandi
Beneficiary