My name is Courage and I’m a professional resource organizer and experienced community activist. This is my ongoing commitment to my community. I’m the guy the you can come to for answers about anything and to give you a mental map for ALL things Altadena!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- SECTION 1 – WHAT HAPPENED IN ALTADENA?
- SECTION 2 – MY STORY AND HOW TO SUPPORT ME
- SECTION 3 – RESOURCES FOR SURVIVORS
- 3A – ALTADENA COMMUNITY RECOVERY CALENDAR
- 3B – MAIN HUBS FOR RESOURCES
- 3C – LINKS FOR REBUILDING
- 3D – LINKS FOR PERSONAL RECOVERY
- 3E – USEFUL PUBLICATIONS & REPORTS
- 3F – SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITIES TO JOIN
- 3G – OTHER ONLINE COMMUNITIES TO JOIN
- SECTION 4 – LOCAL ORGS & ORGANIZING EFFORTS
- 4A – USEFUL INFO FOR ORGANIERS
- 4B – LIST OF ORGS (ALWAYS GROWING!)
- ALTADENA TENANTS UNION
- ALTADENA: NOT FOR SALE
- POSTFIRELA.ORG
- ALTAGETHER
- AUTHETIC ALTADENA
- FOOTHILLS CATALOG
- ALTADENA.US
- ALTADENA RISING
- BEAUTIFUL ALTADENA PRESERVATION
- MY TRIBE RISE
- EATON FIRE COLLABORATIVE
- EATON FIRE RESIDENTS UNITED
- THE ALTADENA COALITION
- ALTADENA EARTHSEED CLT WORKING GROUP
- ALTADENA COLLECTIVE
- THE FUTURE ORG
- DENA RISE UP
- EVOLVE ALTADENA
- BUILD BACK DENA
- DENA JUST FUTURES
- EATON FIRE SURVIVORS NETWORK
- ALTADENA MUSICIANS
- SOUL FORCE PROJECT
- REGROW ALTADENA
- ALTADENA STEADFAST/LA
- RECOVERY ALTADENA
- ALTADENA DINING CLUB
- FRONTLINE RELIEF FOUNDATION
- COLLECTIVE OR
- ALTADENA FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
- CIVIC COALITION FOR URGENT HOUSING RELIEF
- ACTION ALTADENA
- PASADENA VILLAGE
- HEART ALTADENA
- ALTADENA PHOGRAPHERS
- ALTADENA HERITAGE
- ALTADENA WILD
- ALTADENA GREEN
- REBUILDALTADENA.ORG
- ALTADENA ROTARY
- OTHER GROUPS TO BE LISTED
- EMAIL ONLY ORGS
- 4C – WHO IS MR SALE?
- SECTION 5 – SUPPORTIVE SHOPS & ARTISTS
- SECTION 6 – MY MISSION & CONTACTING ME
SECTION 1 – WHAT HAPPENED IN ALTADENA?
SECTION 2 – MY STORY AND HOW TO SUPPORT ME
The 2025 Eaton Fire has destroyed most of my beloved town of Altadena, majorly impacting my life in the process. Please consider supporting me so I can spend every possible moment to organizing and serving the most loving town anywhere.
What all have I done for my community so far? See below:
It’s beyond overwhelming to think about where all this experience has taken me… 
From working with neighbors for days after the fire saving each other’s homes with our swimming pool water 
Organizing and running half of The Altadena Future Fair at the convention center that drew 800 attendees 
Raising $2,000 for Town Council’s Relief Fund by running a fundraiser at a Furry convention 
Somehow delivering 120 boxes and 50 bags of donations all the way from Santa Clarita 
Creating and performing as the now iconic “Mr Sale ” to satirize predatory developers 
Surviving in a still-standing home for months without running water, electricity or safe air 
Turning Altadena: Not for Sale into a mobilized online movement 
Working with Altadena Filmmakers to fund and film a major documentary/series about Altadena 
Working on the planning committee to organize Altadena’s 2025 PRIDE Festival even after so much loss 
Removing hundreds of illegal contractor signs posted all over our neighborhoods 
Traveling to California’s capital in Sacramento to advocate on behalf of the demands and grievances of Altadena with Housing Now 
Organizing with organizers at Altadena Rising’s monthly meetups 
Surviving mudslides, protecting my home from looters and pushing through health effects from the fire 
Meeting with countless friends and survivors to connect them with resources, aid and housing 
Organizing with My Tribe Rise to put on rallies, protests and fight for our black and indigenous residents 
Volunteering for educational community events with The Altadena Coalition 
Helping organize and get the word out for our town’s new “dining club” creating community dinners to support our surviving restaurants! 
Meeting weekly with dozens of organizations at the Eaton Fire Collaborative to plan on how to recover and rebuild our community 
Running 24/7 LIVE info-streams, WhatsApp communities and a town-wide calendar to keep our community whole and informed 
Acting as a captain on my block with Altagether to help guide my neighbors through this process 
…In the end, exhausted and a little scared, staying and fighting for Altadena has been worth it because it’s just that special and so are the people in it.
SECTION 3 – RESOURCES FOR SURVIVORS
Below are all the resources I’ve found since the disaster organized in one place, of which I’m constantly working to update. Please consider joining the Altadena Forever What’sApp community of 500+ survivors or my info-streams on What’sApp or Facebook where I FIRST post everything I find practically by the hour. Please also add the official Altadena Community Recovery Calendar to your Google Calendar app! The most comprehensive calendar in town!
3A – ALTADENA COMMUNITY RECOVERY CALENDAR
3B – MAIN HUBS FOR RESOURCES
3C – LINKS FOR REBUILDING
3D – LINKS FOR PERSONAL RECOVERY
3E – USEFUL PUBLICATIONS & REPORTS
3F – SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITIES TO JOIN
3G – OTHER ONLINE COMMUNITIES TO JOIN
SECTION 4 – LOCAL ORGS & ORGANIZING EFFORTS
Like never before, Altadena has become an organizer’s town working to address every issue, crisis and need that we’ve been confronted with. Here is a clear directory of the central resident-run local orgs that have been leading the charge and how they’re distinctive from each other (according to me.) They all rock and I’m a fan of every one of them!
4A – USEFUL INFO FOR ORGANIERS
4B – LIST OF ORGS (ALWAYS GROWING!)
ALTADENA TENANTS UNION
Up until the disaster, a local union for renters had yet to exist. Now one has formed dedicated to educating Altadenan renters on their rights to fair treatment while making sure their voices are heard and a tight community forms between survivors who are often overlooked in disasters.
ALTADENA: NOT FOR SALE
Not for Sale was one of the first to unite the town behind a shared message of protecting the agency of owners from predatory developers, especially the underinsured and uninsured. Providing hundreds of lawn signs, producing merch to spread that message, they continue to share all the updates about how deeply outside interests have infiltrated our community.
POSTFIRELA.ORG
PostFire’s goal is to support survivors by giving them the clearest step-by-step guides and simplest databases you will find anywhere on a slick user-friendly website for all those looking to rebuild. They are launching a new account-based “portal” that will guide you along, connecting you with options and save your progress as you move through this overwhelming process.
ALTAGETHER
Other than being the cutest name ever, Altagether is an effort to recruit neighborhood captains on every street to guide their immediate neighbors through the recovery and rebuild process and communicate information, concerns, needs and progress with and from the larger network of Altadenan neighborhoods. Captains now have access to a new “dashboard” that digitally tracks progress of how they’ve been helping their neighborhood!
AUTHETIC ALTADENA
Moved into action by the fact that so many media platforms that provide us information and cover our community come from outside our community.. a Youtube channel was created to become a media platform for and by Altadenans to tell our own stories, share information with each other and keep the attention on us with content that we create.
FOOTHILLS CATALOG
Rebuilding a home is hard enough; redesigning them in their historic styles feels like an impossible task. Thanks to months of research done by Foothills, they have created a catalog of distinctive and incredible styles that existed in Altadena. We don’t want cookie cutter homes, we want every home to look like it was captured from a different time and culture, because that is the Altadena we remember!
ALTADENA.US
An intentionally basic website not tied to any social media platform; this website can be used to get updates, learn about events, share info, ask or offer help, network with others and find databases listing relevant sites, resources, people and places. (Psst! Great for elders with limited tech skills!)
ALTADENA RISING
Altadena Rising’s work has strongly centered around the idea of “organizing the organizers.” They specialize in not only creating events for organizers to share what they’re doing with each other but spaces where organizers feel supported. They are also the folks behind the insanely comprehensive “list of unmet needs” for our town! Check it out below.
BEAUTIFUL ALTADENA PRESERVATION
Initially motivated by a visionary proposal and petition detailing how residents want to have agency over the rebuilding process, BAP wants to see an Altadena that’s not only rebuilt in the spirit of the old but one that truly values the vintage history in the homes that survived and wants to see it preserved and saved. They are particularly involved in cost-effective efforts to physically move historic homes into town instead of rebuilding new ones from scratch! Seriously, that’s a thing!
MY TRIBE RISE
My Tribe Rise is a black-led organization founded in 2019 that has responded to their community’s needs for public safety, food, housing security, economic development and solutions to end violence, especially for working class and elderly residents. They have been helping lead the charge making sure that black and brown residents do not fall between the cracks as they often do after disasters.
EATON FIRE COLLABORATIVE
The collaborative is a massive umbrella organization where over 200 non-profits and orgs have partners with each other to meet under one roof and work as committees to effectively meet the needs of our community. It is easily the largest collaborative in town with an elected long-term recovery team. They now have a massive permanent location called the Collaboratory (540 W Woodbury) that contain open offices for many of their non-profit partners including a free market filled with essential items that survivors can schedule an appointment to visit.
EATON FIRE RESIDENTS UNITED
Seriously focused on the long term physical health of our community, EFRU never falters to remind everyone that we are navigating one of the most risky and contaminated fires in history. This org is thee org making sure that agencies, services and governmental bodies involved in clean-up, testing and safety clearances go about it with transparency and genuine caution.
THE ALTADENA COALITION
The coalition moved quickly on the scene hosting the first large-scale fun events, educational panels and empowering moments for the community. Founder Freddy Sayeegh is committed to using his businesses, connections and resources to help the community stay together, rebuild and be offered access to gathering spaces and expertise. They now have an incredible co-op of their own called Alta Design Works (407 E Woodbury) that constantly hosts workshops and events.
ALTADENA EARTHSEED CLT WORKING GROUP
There can no over-stating how important support for good public policy is when concerning the future, agency and voice of a town, especially after a disaster. Everyday, educated advocates are working hard to contact representatives, take part in drafting legislation and pushing for moratoriums and new laws that create anti-speculation protections and community land trusts. It’s nerdy work but it keeps the world running. Want to get involved? Little is more powerful than calling your representatives in mass.
ALTADENA COLLECTIVE
The process of rebuilding itself is one that takes an overwhelming amount of resources, money, permit navigating and contractor vetting. The collective is there is bring everyone you need to you to bring you from hope to house. All based off of a system that has rebuilt homes at record speed in other areas.
THE FUTURE ORG
The Future Org is fully focused on professionally collecting data based on demographics and opinions. They are tirelessly working to create a full picture of what happened the night of the fire; asking residents about how they feel about every aspect of the experience to this day. They intend to be there with diagrams and statistics in hand demanding full accountability for all parties involved; seeking to improve upon every institutional failure and shortcoming.
DENA RISE UP
Dena Rise Up is a growing black-and-brown coalition of community leaders across 20 groups who meet regularly to discuss action items they could work on achieving together from public policy to tighter solidarity between groups. Currently, the group is focused on building capacity to sponsor and write bills that would best benefit our town and aid in it’s recovery.
EVOLVE ALTADENA
Evolve Altadena has been doing the empowering work of providing training for community organizers to become even better at what they do! The only way we will meet the challenges ahead is if we positively transform our leaders in every way possible.
BUILD BACK DENA
Build Back Dena’s primary goal is to make sure that every business that survived the fire, was lost to it or seeks to establish itself afterwards is given every opportunity, resource and chance to thrive, come back and stay in our community. There’s much work to be done and many ways to ensure that our local businesses have a future. Also check out the local Chamber of Commerce!
DENA JUST FUTURES
Denas Just Futures is an organization that seeks to use committees to plan and take organized action in making sure that our town is rebuilt and not GENTRIFIED. The soul of Altadena belongs to the BIPOC populations that were here a century ago and longer and DJF seeks to train and employ all the community leaders who want to dedicate themselves to this work.
EATON FIRE SURVIVORS NETWORK
The Eaton Fire Survivor’s Network is a highly connected online Discord community made up of thousands of survivors who are all in constant communication with each other sharing resources and taking part in many sub-chats divided by subject and need. If you want to directly engage in conversations about any specific subjects, this is the best community to join.
ALTADENA MUSICIANS
Altadena Musicians has been thee organization at the center of the effort to regift the many instruments lost to the fire back into the hands of the many musicians and artists we have in our community. They now have a physical space called the Backyard Party (1260 Lincoln Ave) where they host open mics, concerts and events.
SOUL FORCE PROJECT
A local Altadenan non-profit that promotes social justice through global music and arts, Soul Force Project presents live events and community activations throughout the town centered around themes of non-violent action.
REGROW ALTADENA
The precious trees and plants of our town are what define us and connect us to our environment; reminding our community that we are a part of it, always. Regrow Altadena realized the importance of replacing our one-legged relatives and since the beginning, have been offering and accepting free plants to gift to the community. They are the tree people serving the tree people.
ALTADENA STEADFAST/LA
What Steadfast has been known for is bringing the conversation forward about the future of our commercial and public spaces. Facilitating discussions, workshops and utilizing feedback, they are now working with urban design and landscaping partners to revitalize and envision those spaces.
RECOVERY ALTADENA
The Recovery Altadena website is another collection of guides and info put together by our singular elected representative body, Altadena Town Council, with the help of LA County and other supportive services.
ALTADENA DINING CLUB
The Altadena Dining Club, founded and led by Brooke Iva, has been an incredible example of how a community can get out and show support for itself. Literally every week, community breakfasts, lunches or dinners are planned at our surviving restaurants to give them a huge boost in business where dozens of residents and friends have shown up with hungry bellies and hearts full of love.
FRONTLINE RELIEF FOUNDATION
Started by Jose Velasquez in his own Altadenan backyard; his breathtaking distribution efforts have grown into one of the largest in town. In the spirit of giving, he only continues to go bigger and do more. Check out his website and see when the best times are to stop by his distribution center!
COLLECTIVE OR
Navigating, understanding and bringing together all the players and pieces to rebuild is hard enough, fiercely advocating for your wants as a rebuilder is another. Collective OR is about being your strongest advocate and the official “homeowner’s representative” when confronting all challenges and questions that often neglect the needs and wants of the survivor. Find out how Collective OR fights for you below!
ALTADENA FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
Like it or not, holding our fire department accountable is always just and right, and emergency response institutions have historically failed black and brown communities since their conception in this country. And according to A4A, Altadena sadly was no exception to this historical pattern and alleged systemic failure. Focused on what they claim was an abandoned West Altadena, they are understandably unwavering in seeking restorative justice for the 18 lives lost, the emergency warnings that never came, the majority of emergency vehicles that were absent or uncooperative and the fire reports that still lack transparency. They seek justice, and the truth is the first step towards accountability.
See also the Instagram for “Altadena West of Lake.” In their words: “There are many uplifting Altadena pages. This is not one of them.”
CIVIC COALITION FOR URGENT HOUSING RELIEF
Last I checked, we have an estimated 4-5,000 people on the streets, living in their cars or staying with friends and family as their only option. This is unacceptable. A new coalition has just formed to demand that Edison step up and take a major role in addressing this immediate housing crisis. These are FIRE survivors. They never did anything to ask for this. Please read their proposal below.
ACTION ALTADENA
Action Altadena is an online directory of all the professionals and contractors you could need and ask for in one place; all vetted, organized, easy to find, contact and consider hiring. On their website you will find builders, contractors, financial services, temporary housing, community outreach, architectural services, designers, landscapers, etc. Sometimes having all the information and options in front of you is all you need to independently make choices!
PASADENA VILLAGE
Pasadena Village is a wholesome organization of older adults who have joined together to navigate the challenges of getting older and be there for our aging and elderly fire survivors. Already having played a role in making a number of supportive events possible, they continue to demonstrate the resiliency, value and importance of our elders in generational Altadena.
HEART ALTADENA
Offering free design consultations and free spacial design consultations, the communally-led people at Heart Altadena want to provide interior, landscape and architectural services to survivors using a trusted network of local service providers; many fire-impacted themselves. They want to turn a overwhelming technical process into a human-centered path forward.
ALTADENA PHOGRAPHERS
Similar to Altadena Musicians, Altadena Photographers is addressing the large impacted community of photographers we had. Using their community-powered registry, survivors are able to register their lost equipment and then use the kind-hearted resources of donations and sponsors to help them replace what they lost. Already hosting a number of shows, events and opportunities for the community to come together, they want to make sure that our pre-fire community will move forward and be more than a snapshot in time.
ALTADENA HERITAGE
Our own heritage organization is a classic and long standing one that has one simple mission: to preserve the character and history of our town be it cultural, historical or architectural. Already having worked with a number of other orgs and efforts, they have been critical in giving us the references, records and surviving media we need to recapture the soul of what was lost.
ALTADENA WILD
Another classic org in our town, the people at this org have realized from a post-fire survey that one of the most important goals of our community needs to be educating and training on tree health which they are accomplishing with their new ReGreen Altadena initiative. They want to bring in new expertise on tree cultivation, generate interest in the field of arboriculture and use that to drastically increase replanting efforts, replace half of the tree population that we lost and provide expert guidance in how we can save old trees and care for new ones.
ALTADENA GREEN
Similar to Altadena Heritage, the goal of Green is to preserve and restore the natural character of Altadena’s tree canopy! Another org that existed before the fire, they’ve been fighting to save healthy trees from removal, reimagining what a fire-resilient natural landscape looks like, giving away trees (like Regrow Altadena!) and restoring the urban canopy one tree at a time! They fight for our one-leggeds like organizers fight for our human survivors!
REBUILDALTADENA.ORG
The goal of rebuild Altadena is simple. Help displaced families in any way possible by using their partnerships with local and national organizations; whether that looks like connecting families with resources, providing basic needs and simple pleasures or using their volunteers and donors to provide immediate aid–they won’t think twice. They are currently developing a long term plan to ensure that families have the support they need during their multi-year recovery.
ALTADENA ROTARY
Established in 1905, the Rotary is a service organization that after the Eaton Fire has raised over a million dollars for fire recovery efforts and provided financial contributions to more than 50 local organizations like their current grant for our 501c3’s. Often the secret sauce behind so many of our town’s most helpful efforts, they continue to show the wisdom in their legacy serving our community again and again. (Also their pancake breakfast is the bomb.)
OTHER GROUPS TO BE LISTED
Furries for Altadena
Brown & Indigenous Altadena
EMAIL ONLY ORGS
DENA HOLIDAYS is a newly formed effort dedicated to helping, supporting and providing resources to all events that bring Altadenans together for holidays throughout the year. Email Chris “Pacman” Pack here:
wearedenastrong@gmail.com
WILDFIRE RECOVERY THINK TANK is a long standing org that seeks to figure out all the ways Altadena 2.0 can not only be more integrated with our natural environment (and each other) but how we can use the natural environment to create a natural resilience against wildfires in the future. Email John Chen here:
jchan@formationassociation.com
4C – WHO IS MR SALE?
As you may have noticed, this page is on an actor’s website! Because my work as an “Actor, Activist and Adventurer” have always been intertwined and I use this website for my activism. So far, this is how I’ve used that expertise in the performative arts to help my town:
Mr Sale is a character that I created to be a versatile figure of poignant satire to give a face to the many greedy and institutional issues that we face as a town trying to rebuild after a disaster: be it opportunistic realtors, big developers, insurance companies or dysfunctional systems that hurt survivors more than they help. I’m hoping to return to this character soon, but here are the first three episodes!
SECTION 5 – SUPPORTIVE SHOPS & ARTISTS
None of these shops benefit me in any way but if you want to show your support for Altadena, please check out out these local/SUPPORTIVE shops. JUST CLICK ON THE IMAGE to see their shop!
(LOCAL)
(LOCAL)
(LOCAL)
(LOCAL)
(LOCAL)
(LOCAL BENEFIT)
(LOCAL BENEFIT)
(LOCAL BENEFIT)
(LOCAL BENEFIT)
SECTION 6 – MY MISSION & CONTACTING ME
As the magnitude of this town-wide situation grows, I’m slowly realizing not only my capacities but the issues that I personal wish to prioritize over others.
Here are my current eight priorities:
Contact me about organizing or help!
We will never LET THIS happen again.
AND WE WILL NEVER FORGET.
I love you Altadena.
Courage the Actor 