My name is Anna and I am organizing this fundraiser for the Russo family. I am lucky to have had Lucie and Steve in my life for over 15 years. If you were at their wedding in 2016, you may know me from bursting into tears during my speech.

The Russos are a special family who care about their community and have supported us all when we needed it. It's now our turn; I am setting up this fundraiser to support Lucie, Steve, Lilah, and Sadie after losing their beloved home in Altadena to the Eaton fire.

This GoFundMe will be used to help the Russos as they work to recover and rebuild their life.

The Eaton Fire has been devastating for the Russo family; not only have they lost their home and all of their belongings, but their neighborhood (including Sadie's preschool) has been destroyed. Their hearts are broken for their neighbors and themselves.

They are incredibly grateful for the concern, caring, and support they've received —it means so much to them. Still, the entire community has been affected. Altadena is a diverse, historical and wonderful town with people who have lived there for generations. Many of their neighbors are not receiving the support they will need.

One way to honor the spirit and the values of the Russos is to support other relief efforts that benefit the entire community.

Lucie and Steve recommend:

• Pasadena Educational Foundation , which supports the Pasadena Unified School District including Altadena Arts Magnet, where Lilah was in kindergarten

• LA County Fire Department, specifically Station 12 in Altadena, which safely delivered Lucie to the hospital when Sadie unexpectedly came quickly and early, and now is moving mountains to protect our community.

• Watch Duty App , a non-profit that helped them and so many stay up to date on the movements of the fires

• Neighbors in need. Altadena is a diverse community in every sense and the level of resources that its residents have access to varies greatly. Many have GoFundMe pages that are not fully resourced. Please consider donating to a second GoFundMe that is struggling to reach its goal: List of GoFundMes funded less than 30% (scroll to

I encourage you to reach out to your employers about corporate match donations to these and other organizations on the ground doing vital work.

Thank you for your caring and generosity. This crisis will last a long time, and we are in it for the long haul.