City of Angels: How to Support LA's Fire Victims

First of all, we want to extend our sympathies to anybody in our community who has lost a home, a school, belongings, or more in the LA fires. It has been truly devastating to see how much Angelenos have lost. From here in Seattle, we have watched neighbors, families, and small business owners face a level of loss that is hard to put into words, and our thoughts are with everyone working to rebuild.

When a disaster hits this hard, the question we keep coming back to is a simple one: what can we actually do from where we sit? The answer, for us, is to point people toward the families who are carrying the heaviest weight and to help raise their visibility. Black families in the affected areas have been hit especially hard, and many are working to recover with fewer resources to fall back on.

Where your support is going

There is an organized effort underway to support more than 850 Black families displaced or otherwise affected by the fires through a GoFundMe campaign. The goal is direct, practical help for households that have lost homes and belongings: a way for people across the country to chip in, however much they can, and have it reach families who need it now.

If you are in a position to give, please consider donating. No amount is too small, and pooled together, those contributions add up to real relief for people starting over.

Two ways to help today

• Donate. Contribute whatever you can to the GoFundMe supporting these 850+ families. Recurring or one-time, every bit reaches households rebuilding from the ground up.
• Share. If donating is not possible right now, sharing the campaign is its own form of help. Post it to your networks, send it to a few friends, and mention it to anyone who has been asking how to support LA. Visibility is what turns a single fundraiser into a community-wide effort.

Recovery from a disaster like this is not a one-week story. The headlines move on, but the families do not get to. Keeping the campaign in front of people over the coming weeks matters as much as the first wave of giving.

A note from Launch

We are a small business that works with other small businesses, so we know how quickly a livelihood can be tied up in a single building, a single storefront, a single home office. When that is gone, the road back is long. If this post reaches even a few more people who can give or share, it is worth writing. Our hearts are with Los Angeles, and we are grateful to everyone helping these families find their footing again.