How Your Family Can Help Make a Difference —Southern California Wildfires
I got tired of doomscrolling the latest news about the wildfires in LA and decided to put together this list of ways we can actually make a difference in helping, especially involving our children!
It can be tricky to find ways to help that involve children, but here are some ideas for ways to get involved!
Just to be clear, this list is not meant for those who’ve evacuated or are in the thick of the fire areas… more for the rest of us throughout Southern California who aren’t directly involved.
Send Cards:
Making drawings and cards can be an activity even toddlers can participate in! Here are two ideas for sending cards to support those impacted by the wildfires:
Send cards to people affected by the wildfires.
This is a simple, inexpensive, all-ages way to show our support!
I haven’t been able to find anywhere specific to send cards or drawings yet, so for now, I’m happy to collect them.
Then within the next few weeks I will find a way to get them to people who were evacuated or lost their homes (I have a few connections in the Pasadena/Altadena area so likely will go that direction). I will try to update here or on Instagram Stories when I pass them along.
You can mail cards or drawings to me at:
SoCal Nature Kids
5225 Canyon Crest Dr
Suite 71 #154
Riverside, CA 92507
Please don’t send money, gift cards, or other valuable items… just cards to let others know we’re thinking of them. :)
Send thank you cards to firefighters.
Make a card, draw a picture, and/or write a note to say “thank you” to firefighters. You can tell why you appreciate them, and how they help you.
Where to send a firefighter thank you:
To deliver your card, you can:
drop it off or mail to your local fire station
send to any LA Fire Station (scroll down under the map to see a list of all them).
Send to CalFire at any of these addresses - these are some of the CalFire regional offices:
CalFire 210 W. San Jacinto, Perris, CA 92570
CalFire 3800 N. Sierra Way, San Bernardino, CA 92405
CalFire 2249 Jamacha Road, El Cajon, CA 92019
CalFire 1150 #175 Laurel Lane, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Donate Money:
There are so many organizations doing great work to support firefighters and wildfire victims. Here are a few I’ve seen recommended:
In addition, you could contribute via GoFundMe — perhaps preview a few and then share 1-3 with your children (in an age-appropriate, non-scary way. Maybe just the photo and “they need some help because of those wildfires going on.”) Allow them to choose one (or more) to donate $5 to together. $5 may not seem like much, but every little bit helps!
You can find GoFund Me fundraisers to support wildfire victims here.
Sending money to organizations and individuals already equipped to serve can be the most effective way to help, but it’s not very tangible for children.
Here are some ideas for including your children directly in giving generously and making it a little more hands-on:
Set up a lemonade stand or bake sale this weekend to raise money for charity.
Get your children involved in setting up a lemonade stand, bake sale, or other simple fundraiser (again, this is assuming you’re not near the evacuation zones, and that wind/weather permits you being outdoors for a sale).
Make signs, prepare some lemonade, then send the money your raise to a nonprofit like the ones listed above. (Tip: print out your Venmo so customers can make a purchase even if they don’t have cash.)
Invite your children to give their own money to charity.
Did your children receive money for Christmas, or do they get an allowance? Invite them to make a contribution.
Or, offer to “pay” them for doing special chores around the house (even preschoolers can fold washcloths or wipe down the walls with a wet rag!) and then they can donate that money.
As a family, choose to go “without” so you can donate that money.
Talk with your children about skipping something this week so you can make a donation… for example, perhaps you planned to go out to eat, but you could stay home and have a simple meal at home and contribute the money you saved.
Donate Items:
If you can give money, that’s generally the best and most effective way to contribute. However, if you’re looking for ways to give specific items, here are some ideas:
Contribute items to locations in LA:
If you’re near an evacuation shelter, food bank, or animal shelter that’s accepting donations and is safe to reach, of course you can go drop off food or diapers or pet food… making sure to stay well out of the evacuation areas. Here is a spreadsheet with individual organizations and groups collecting items.
Contribute items to a food bank or shelter near you
If you’re not nearby, find your own local food bank or animal shelter — even if they’re not supporting the wildfire directly — and drop off donations there.
Big weather emergencies make us more aware of the needs, but there are people in need every day and great organizations doing work throughout Southern California all the time.
Supporting these organizations allows them to support people in need today, and allows us to have these organizations in place and ready to help the next time disaster strikes in a different area.
Consider donating items to the San Diego Food Bank, OC Food Bank, or another local food bank, shelter, or nonprofit near you.
Volunteer:
Volunteer opportunities supporting the wildfire:
I know we’re all itching to actually help. Right now I haven’t personally seen many places that are asking for untrained, brand new volunteers, especially children. However, check out this spreadsheet for possibilities, especially if you have older children/teens.
I do think there may be opportunities in weeks/months to come — I’ll try to update here if I see any that are family friendly!
Help pick up trash, leaves, branches in your neighborhood (if it’s safe)
If your neighborhood was affected by the high winds, but not the fire, consider grabbing a trash bag and picking up some trash, branches, etc. that may have been blown around by the winds in your neighborhood or at your local nature areas.
Use caution and your best judgment, especially if you were in an area where ash was falling… you don’t want to stir up ash and dust for little lungs to breath in.
Wearing an N95 mask would be ideal, and wear work gloves/gardening gloves if possible.
I can’t predict what your neighborhood looks like — in ours, there are tiny pieces of palm fronds and small tree branches that I think my kids could safely pick up on a walk this afternoon and throw in our green bin as a service to your neighborhood. Of course, if you’re facing huge tree branches, large dust/ash piles… don’t handle those with children!
Also — you probably won’t be using power tools with children around, but be sure you don’t use power tools if it’s at all windy! We don’t want to spark any more fires in our efforts to clean up!
Get involved with local fire organizations (in the future).
In the long term, consider joining a Prescribed Burn Association (many are family friendly) or supporting your teen in joining a Junior Firefighter or Search and Rescue training program.
I personally wouldn’t reach out for more info until things have settled and there aren’t any active fires, as I presume everyone involved is pretty busy right now.
Educate Your Family:
Fire in California is complicated, but I think we can all agree (on all sides of the political aisle!) that our state can’t continue this pattern of wildfires forever.
Starting now with educating our children helps them grow into a generation prepared to make change!
As a family, review how to avoid starting a wildfire yourself
It’s just infuriating how many wildfires are started by humans, isn’t it? Channel that frustration into making sure you’re not involved in starting one.
TreePeople has an excellent post with not only the basics that you probably already know (like don’t start a campfire on a windy day in a dry area) but also some things you may not know yet (like don’t park on the shoulder of a road on high wind days, because your car could ignite a fire).
Go over some of these with your children and talk about how we can care for each other by being responsible citizens.
Read children’s books together about wildfires.
Here are a few I recommend:
They Hold the Line: Wildfires, Wildlands, and the Firefighters Who Brave Them by Dan Paley - the author is from Orange County!
Go on a family field trip to learn more about wildfires and firefighting. (in the future)
Of course, I don’t recommend doing that while there’s an active wildfire going on and resources are stretched thin, but you can plan one for the future.
You can find a list of field trip ideas for Southern California here, including fire stations available for visits, firefighting museums (there are many in Southern California!), and fire hikes.
Talk through your own family evacuation plan.
Use discretion - there’s no reason to unnecessarily worry your kids, but having a plan can be empowering, especially if your children have heard people are evacuating and losing their homes.
I made a list on my phone last night of what we’d grab, and it includes telling my kids to each grab a trash bag and dump all their special stuffed animals inside.
This is also a great time to make sure your children know what to do in case of a regular house fire and how to respond if the smoke alarm goes off.
Commit to giving your children a general knowledge of nature and respect for it.
We need a society that learns to respect and live with nature, and care for the world around us. As you learn about Southern California nature, go on hikes, spend time outdoors, and teach your children how to be responsible outdoors, you’re making a difference!
Stick with it:
Commit to helping beyond this week.
When the skies clear and the news cycle moves on… there will still be families who lost their homes, businesses destroyed, and hiking trails devastated.
By then, I’m guessing many organizations will likely be better equipped to accept volunteers and donations… just as many of us stop looking for ways to help.
Make a note in your calendar to check online next week for more opportunities, and then again at the start of February. (I’ll try to update here as I continue to see opportunities!)
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