Jan. 24, 2025

Amid L.A. Wildfires: Community Heroes and Heartwarming Stories

Show Notes
Transcript

In this bonus episode, Johnny Mac shares uplifting news emerging from the L.A. wildfires. Featured stories include a 14-year-old's viral recovery fund for teen girls, Guitar Center's grant program for affected musicians, Dave Grohl's volunteer efforts, a brain surgeon saving homes with his preparedness, and community relief efforts by the American Red Cross and local vendors. These stories highlight the resilient and compassionate spirit of Angelenos coming together in times of crisis.

00:23 Avery's Viral Fundraiser for Altadena Girls
00:58 Guitar Center's Support for Musicians
01:39 Dave Grohl's Birthday Volunteering
02:12 Heroic Actions of a Brain Surgeon and His Son
02:41 Community Response and Support
03:09 Street Vendors' Distribution Center

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Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with five

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good news stories. A reminder the normal publishing schedule is

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now Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. But I've been dropping in these

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bonus episodes related to the la wildfires because there's been

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some good news coming out of the horrible tragedy. A

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fourteen year old created a viral Alta Dina Girls Recovery

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Fund to help teenage girls impacted by the Eton fire.

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So Avery's fourteen and started this thing, but it got

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shared by high profile bands, artists like Charlie XCX, and

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celebrities like Paris Hilton, and went viral and grew to

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nearly thirty two thousand followers on social media over a

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few days. That all resulted in a packed out distribution

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center for teenage girls in Altadena to come quote unquote shop.

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Avery said, they've lost everything, and I want them to

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feel a sense of normalcy and when nothing else in

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their life is normal. Avery has gathered donations, including beauty

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and hair products and new clothing. Guitar Center announced a

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new program that will help musicians affected by the wildfires

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replace their instruments or gear from now until February twenty

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eighth Guitar Center and Guitar Center and Music Foundation say

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they will support musicians and music programs affected by the

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fires with a special one time grant that will allow

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them to replace their destroyed instruments or gear. Does it

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qualify you have to be LA based, you may have

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to provide proof of loss or address, and you'll have

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to set up an account. Music programs will have to

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classify as one of the following in school music classes

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in which the students make music, after school music programs

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that are not run by the school, community music programs

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which offer music instruction to the community, or music therapy

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programs in which the participants actively make music. Dave Grohl

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celebrated his fifty sixth birthday by volunteering for Feed the Streets,

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a nonprofit organization distributing meals to displaced families and inmate

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firefighters amid the ongoing fires. On Instagram stories, Dave is

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seen stirring a giant pot of chili alongside fellow volunteers.

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In another video, we see role pushing a cart. This

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is not the first Dave has done this sort of thing.

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I've shared in the past. On Super Bowl Sunday in February,

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LA nonprofit Hope the Mission shared an Instagram reel featuring

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Dave and his friends barbecuing seventy pork butts for the

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Woodlands Family Shelter. A brain surgeon and his son ignored

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evacuation warnings. They went into action to save their ocean

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front home and their neighbor's home. Doctor Griffith said he

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had planned for wildfire for years by buying high pressure hoses,

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professional firefighting gear, and flame retardant home building materials. He'd

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also trained on disaster preparedness. As a result, the father

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and son, along with Clayton, the neighbor, and some local firefighters,

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saved five homes along the beach. Doctor Griffiths shared on

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social media a video in which she said, we did it.

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Our houses are here. The American Red Cross say they've

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feeled it at least eight thousand calls from locals asking

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how they could assist wildfire victims. Aaron Morton is VP

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of Strategic Partnerships at United Way of Greater LA and said,

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what we've seen in terms of their response has been

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an overwhelming sense of community that it's everyone's responsibility to

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help the residents impact it. It's an amazing confirmation of

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Whoila is. It's very dynamic, very diverse, and we come

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up with solutions together. I'm looking at this crisis with

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a lot of hope. We have shown we have the

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power to come together. Outside Altadena Street, vendors opened a

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massive food and closed distribution center at the Santa Anita Racetrack.

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Angelinos donated hundreds of boxes of clothed diapers, baby formula,

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toilet paper, and other necessities. Volunteers sorted the clothing for

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display by sections men, women, children, tops, pants, shoes. Those

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who showed up to help were shoot name tags and

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paired with a fire victim or family seeking supplies. One

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man showed up with a KFC shirt he had fried

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chicken a giveaway, and outside one tent a sign said

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free massage in the midst of all the chaos and

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those ear five good news stories today. It might have

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been six if you kept carefully. But hey, good news,

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good news. No rules on the bonus episodes, you know

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what I'm saying. All right, back with a normal episode

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on Sunday. You have a great day.