Palisades Fire: Aid for Natalie and Her Family

Hello,

My name is Roman Rodichev, and I am organizing this GoFundMe to support our friends, the Amelyan family in California, who have been devastated by a recent fire disaster. ___*** The actual letter from the family is included below this message. *** _____

Their home was completely destroyed, along with all of their belongings. Many of you who will receive this message know the Amelyan family personally, and any contribution, big or small, will make a significant difference. If you are unable to donate, please consider sharing this page with your network to spread the word.

Thank you all for your kindness and support.

Sincerely,

Roman and Kira Rodichev

Friends of Natalie, Alex, Alyssa, Julia, and Boris

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Hey everyone,

Unfortunately, my family recently lost our home in the devastating Palisades fire. I’m Natalie and am 13 years old; my brother, Alex, is 17 years old; my sister, Alyssa, is 7 years old. My sister attended Palisades Charter Elementary, which was also lost in the fire. Me and my brother also went to Pali when we were in elementary and the wonderful community helped shape the way we are now. I go to Calvary Christian which by the grace of God was spared in the fire but will not be able to reopen the school year due to the damage.

It’s not just the houses and properties that were ruined because we lived in by far the most beautiful place in the world, it was the community that was built. The Palisades is one big family that was destroyed by this horrendous wild fire.

It was my second day back from winter break, I went to school like any other day. I was so happy to see all my teachers and friends. I kept thinking how much I truly adored and was so blessed for this school. We were in our third period when we started to smell the smoke. We were told everything was fine and to not worry. In the next period we were evacuated within 5 minutes of class. Everything was yellow and there was a huge cloud of smoke covering the sky. We ended up all having to walk down to the fire station. There were fire trucks everywhere, standstill traffic, parents trying to find their kids, and children looking for their parents. Luckily, my mom came fast and picked me and my friend up and took us to our homes. At that time, we thought the fire wouldn’t affect us. Then, we were under evacuation notice, but we didn’t think much of it as we have had to evacuate several times before, so we only took a few things. I took all my Mizuno volleyball uniforms, my savings, my Bible, and 2 pairs of clothes. My brother was still in school and we only took his favorite guitar and retainer. My brother works so hard to get the same chances in guitar that other kids do who have parents in the industry and who have played for forever. Whenever we show someone videos of him playing people always say, “He is going to be world class when he’s older.” He lost all his belongings but he was most emotionally attached to his guitars and was in denial for a few days about it. My little sister lost her home, all her toys and books, and her school. The only truly irreplaceable thing for me that I took was my “get busy living” shirt that we got when my principal got the tragic disease ALS and passed away this summer. I even went to volleyball practice that afternoon and am forever grateful for the beautiful Mizuno Long Beach community. They have come together for me like no other.

It was truly devastating to see videos and pictures of a place that I’ve called home for more than half of my life completely destroyed. Words can’t describe how this fire has ruined my neighborhood and the course of all of our lives. I’ve never wanted to go back to school more. All I want is for my life to be normal again. It still hasn’t fully set in what happened. I feel like I’m just on vacation and I’m going to get to go home. I’m going to get to see my friends, see my beautiful principal, I’m going to get to go to the village and hang out, get yelled at by my teachers when we talk too much in class, go to the Starbucks across from school every day. But the sad reality is that that’s not true. Everything was taken away from me in one day. But I am so grateful for all the small miracles and wonderful people that God has put in my life. Now I fully appreciate how beautiful my life is and I really really just want it back. I regret all the times that I didn’t wanna go to school, because I’ve never wanted to go to school so badly in my life. I still feel like I’m in a nightmare and I’m going to wake up soon. I still feel like this is happened to someone else and not me. It makes me laugh at all the things that I thought were important like looking good in school, having a lot of people like me, and worrying about all the drama. Calvary has taught me to love God and love others. And I never realized how powerful those two things are until now. Those are the real irreplaceable. Your blood family, the family that you make, your friends, and the memories that you had. All that I have left from my old life are the memories that I have made and the family that I’ve created. It’s hard to sometimes but all you have to do is remember that God is good even through all the hard times and times that we feel like nothing could help us.

We stayed at a hotel for a few days, and have now moved into an airbnb as my parents are piecing our lives back together.

Thank you so much for reading my perspective of what happened and please consider donating any amount, nothing is too small, and please share this with your friends. It’s gonna be hard but with everyone’s help we’re gonna be OK.

Your donations will go toward helping me continue playing volleyball and supporting my brother and sister in continuing their education and activities, which are critical for maintaining stability in our lives. Please keep my family and our community in your prayers.

Thank you for all the support so far.

Love and God bless,

Natalie Amelyan