Support Aaron's Recovery from Palisades Fire

From Geetha and Prakash Iyer:

Dear kind friends, family, and friends yet to be,

Our dear friend Aaron Jones (son of Ellen Jones) escaped the devastating Palisades fire which destroyed his home and livelihood. He not only lost his beloved home and business, but also the desktop computer and all the precious supplies and tools he had carefully collected over decades for running his construction business and helping Lake Shrine’s Artisan Committee endeavors. 

Aaron has served at the Lake Shrine for a number of years, helping with various events and with graphic design. He has been ever willing and helpful to make props and displays for the Artisan/Boutique Committee fundraisers as well as doing the setups and takedowns to benefit Master’s work and Lake Shrine. 

Aaron has lived, worked, and volunteered in the Pacific Palisades for many years. He doesn’t like the idea of burdening anyone in spite of having to endure profound loss and resulting uncertainty. He is immensely grateful for the deep loving support, prayers, and kindness from everyone that will enable him to cover needs not met by other sources of aid. 

Here is Aaron’s story in his own words:

I never thought it would be a possibility that a wildfire would destroy nearly everything in my town from the mountains to the sea. 

This is the town where I was born and raised. I’ve lived in many places, but the Palisades will always be home. Thankfully, I was home that morning and was able to load important documents into the truck and water anything that could easily burn around the house.

From my vantage point on the roof, things were getting bad. The sky grew dark from smoke, the wind increased in intensity, blowing ash and debris, and it was apparent that the flames were beginning to surround the neighborhood. Getting trapped without an exit was a real possibility in the gridlocked traffic, so I had to leave. It took longer than I thought it would, and was getting more precarious by the minute, but eventually I made it out safely. 

Days later, it was determined that the fire claimed our house and all of the contents (including the desktop computer I used for various graphic design projects for the Boutique). All of the tools and construction equipment it took years to acquire were destroyed — and with them my livelihood.

With my construction background and experience, I plan on being part of the effort to rebuild my town and help others who have also lost everything.

I’m so grateful to the SRF community that helped foster my personal relationship with the Divine, which has made this experience much less hellish. I am blessed to have been raised in a family with a solid spiritual foundation and relationship with God, which is the bedrock that allows us to get through challenging times.