A Los Angeles art studio just a few miles from the rubble left behind by the Eaton fire was packed over the weekend with the supplies a teenage girl needs to rebuild her life.
Sports bras and graphic T-shirts hung from hangers. Converse sneakers were lined up by size on the concrete floor. The clear plastic box was overflowing with deodorant, hair products, and pastel-colored pimple patches.
All items collected in a spacious warehouse in the Boyle Heights neighborhood were given away for free to teenagers whose homes were destroyed in the city's devastating wildfires.
While many relief efforts for fire victims have focused on more pressing needs like shelter and food, Pasadena eighth-grader Avery Colbert went to Altadena last week for a less obvious purpose.ć»Started a donation campaign called Girls. She wanted to provide young women with the necessities they had lost, plus everyday luxuries that might help bring some semblance of normalcy back to their lives.
Cristina Soltero spent more than two hours Monday browsing with her 13-year-old niece, Mila, whose Altadena home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire. The pajamas Mila wore when her family evacuated were the only clothing she had left. Her budding record collection was destroyed.
“It really broke her spirit,” said Soltero, 41, a nurse.
While her parents searched for housing, Mila packed two IKEA bags with socks, hair ties and a Brandy Melville cardigan. Her aunt said she perked up when she found a dusty pink Stanley Cup similar to the one she had left behind.
“She was so happy that it was very hard not to cry the whole time,” Soltero said. “For a while, she was just shopping normally and didn't think about what she had lost.”
Colbert, 14, created the Altadena Girls Instagram account on Friday with the help of her stepfather. Her home survived, but many of her friends did not, she said in an interview with Time magazine. Her middle school, Elliott Arts Magnet, burned down.
She posted a call for new clothing, hygiene and beauty products on social media, specifying the types of items she thought would be greatly appreciated by teenage girls who now have food and shelter.
“I started hearing from friends about things they desperately needed but were afraid or embarrassed to ask for,” Colbert wrote in an email. “It's for girls. It's for teenage girls. It's got everything from bras and underwear to makeup and everything to help them feel like themselves.”
The initiative quickly gained high-profile support. Charli XCX called the organization “the coolest” on social media. Donated products from Ariana Grande's makeup brand “REM Beauty” have arrived. Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the donation through their charitable foundation.
Altadena Girls said it will establish a new location in Pasadena to deliver supplies to those affected by the wildfires. By Tuesday, an initiative was launched to help teenage boys inspired by the group.
Ashrita Beecham, 35, posted on Instagram that once she determined there was no need to evacuate her home in Sherman Oaks, she planned to deliver hair care products for black women to Altadena Girls.
Her followers sent her about $800 to help buy leave-in conditioner, moisturizing shampoo, bonnets, edge gel and wide-tooth combs. Beauchamp loaded up her cart at Target on Saturday with some of the products she uses for her hair.
“The black community has been hit the hardest, especially in Altadena, so I want to make sure everyone is taken care of,” said Beecham, who works in finance in the film industry and grew up in nearby La Crescenta.
When she delivered the products to her Boyle Heights studio space, she cheered when she saw the number of people dropping off donations or working as volunteer stylists. She hoped their efforts would provide a moment of solace to young women whose lives have been forever changed.
“These kids have been through enough,” she says.
