Little did I, Summer, know, when I lip-synched Gloria Gaynor’s (and Donna Summers’) “I Will Survive” at 8th grade summer camp, that it would be the theme-song for my life!

As if losing Brad in 2021, my dad in 2020, and moving to California were not enough hits, Mckenzie and I had just moved to Altadena December 17th, 2024.

The Eaton Fire hit Altadena January 7th, 2025.

That eve—the first day of what would have been my 6th quarter at Fuller Seminary—we evacuated, expecting to come back the next day. We left Mckenzie’s car behind the electric gate, as we didn’t know how to operate the gate without electricity. We left with just a small bag of clothes each, the dogs, and not much else.

Sadly, our place was engulfed by flames: all our new neighbors’ houses around ours burnt down, as well as our garage (with all my bikes, the SMEG, the Vespa, Brad’s tools, my stained glass tools and glass, and all the etcetera) and Mckenzie’s beloved Xterra. We thought we had lost our house as well, along with everything in it, as many others did.

We escaped that eve to South Pasadena, and woke up the next morning to the apocalypse—ash falling everywhere, trees fallen in the streets from powerful winds, people shuffling like zombies with masks on, and the sky an eerie orange. We left for Santa Barbara and stayed there a week, not sure what to do, not sure if our house was standing still.

We decided to come back and be close to the house, as it had not burnt down, expecting to get back in a few weeks or max a couple months. It’s now been 6 months, and after a Tour of LA—couple months in Lincoln Heights, a couple months in Sherman Oaks, and currently living in Hollywood below the Hollywood sign—we are finally getting our contents cleaned starting next week.

This is where we need help.

My insurance has covered the extra on staying in Airbnbs (thank you Allstate, for being so amazing to work with!) and given me the money that basically covers replacing some of the garage items and a mattress for each of us.

Due to lead, ash, char, smoke damage, and VOCs, we have to throw away all these things, which aren’t being covered: all appliances (washer/dryer, toaster oven, hair tools, microwave, TV, massage gun, speakers, KitchenAid, coffeemaker and grinder, Cuisine Art chopper, etc); all cooking items that are wood or plastic (my mom’s wooden spoons she actually used! ), pans, lids, books; paper items; all the food items; all bedding and mattresses and pillows; all fabric furniture (sofa/pillows/blankets); Mckenzie’s vast collection of yarn; anything plastic (the Yeti!); dog beds/toys; Christmas tree (because yes, that was still up!); all the backup toiletries and beauty products and toilet paper and perfume and all the things we left behind. More—so much more.

We basically should throw away 80-90% of everything, as the house was engulfed in smoke for hours (we still can’t go in without masks!). But I’m hoping to get things remediated from all the toxicity and then test them to see if they are remediated. We shall see if I can save my rugs from Istanbul, the table that was my dads when he was a kid, the collected art, my beautiful shoe collection, and so on.

So we need help. Cleaning will be just over 16k. Plus replacing everything to set up two households (as M is moving Studio City and I will be in Glendale). M had to buy a new car, and the used market is atrocious—you can see what was once her bright red Xterra in the pics, along with my blue Vespa, and amazing Genesis BBQ, and other things, if you look closely.

We have been so grateful for the support you all gave early on—thank you friends!—and we need more, 6 months + later.

Thank you for any help you can give to helping with remediation and replacement. Blessings on us all as the world seems to burn around us.

As Gloria, and all of us, can sing: we will survive!