Jan. 29, 2025

More Good News Amidst the California Wildfires

Show Notes
Transcript

Host Johnny Mack shares five uplifting stories in this bonus episode. A California fire chief saved his brother's house using a carton of milk and a few beers amidst the L.A. wildfires. A New Jersey woman coordinated a unique initiative to send comforting items to affected families in California. Two high schools organized a fundraising basketball game, raising over $7,000 for fire victims. A six-day donation drive in Altadena provided essential items and custom skateboards to fire-affected teens, organized by a student from Pasadena City College. Lastly, Critical Role hosts a special live charity D&D adventure to support wildlife relief efforts.

00:20 Heroic Fire Chief Saves Brother's House
01:17 Comfort Items for Fire Victims
02:00 Community Fundraiser Basketball Game
02:52 Teen Boys Fire Recovery Donation Drive
03:41 Critical Role Charity Livestream

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WEBVTT

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Caloroga Shark Media. Hi there, I'm Choenny Mack with a

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bonus episode of five Good News Stories. A reminder of

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changed the publishing schedule to Sunday Tuesday Thursday, and looking

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at the numbers, seems like everybody's okay with that. Thank

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you for listening. This is a bonus episode about some

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good news coming out of the aftermath of the LA wildfires.

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A California fire chief single handedly saved his brother's house

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armed with a carton of milk and a few beers.

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Brian Fennessee was on his way back to check in

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on his brother. Unable to get in contact with his brother,

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the fire chief said he's gonna help if he could.

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As he arrived in Altadena, he got a phone call

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confirming that his brother and the family had safely evacuated.

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Since the chief was already in the area, I thought

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he might as well check in on his brother's house.

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As he pulled up, he soon saw the gasometer in

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the back of the house had caught fire. Nearby. There

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was a hose, but no water came out. He said,

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I thought I'd checked the refrigerator, and while that was

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in there was some milk and a couple of beers.

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We went back out and kind of ran back there

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and cooled it off and pulled it back a little bit.

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It wasn't completely out, so I wasn't sure if it

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was going to rekindle, but it was all I could do.

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As it turned out, it was enough. The two houses

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that the chief worked on were the only ones in

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the whole neighborhood not burned down. Randy lives in New Jersey.

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Her job was to help kids through some of the

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worst times of their lives, whether they're facing say, surgery,

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or a parent who's ill. She saw the fires and thought,

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I couldn't stop thinking what would I grab if I

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had to leave my three year old stuffed animals. That's

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part of her own advice to parents that bringing stuffed

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animals from a home to the hospital creates a sense

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of normalcy in the midst of extremely challenging circumstances. But

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you know, she's in New Jersey. The fires are in LA.

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She and her sister in law went on the Internet.

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They set up an insta to connect California families looking

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for certain comfort items with people elsewhere in the world

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who might have the same items on hand. The network

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is humming along. Matches include a hippo pillow from Spain

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and a sock creature from the Netherlands. One mom said,

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you're taking one thing off my Two communities ravaged by

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the fire came together on the basketball court with a

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fundraiser game. Mateen plays for Palisades High School and said,

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I think an event like this brings us together and

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makes us stronger. Andrew is the COO at Saint Francis

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High School and said for the boys to be able

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to come together and compete against one another, but know

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that they're playing for something bigger than themselves is pretty awesome.

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The fundraiser had bag goods, donations and lots of raffle prizes.

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They raised more than seven thousand dollars, with the proceeds

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split between Palisades and Eaten fire victims. Saint Francis won

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the game, but for the players, matteen said, this was

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great seeing both communities impacted by the fires come together.

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It's great to come out here. It's a great distraction

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from everything going on, and playing basketball has really helped

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me get back to normalcy. During the game, I think

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this event was great. Vincent's family lost everything in the

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etn fire. He said, a lot of people just tell

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me it's material things, but it's really your heart. It's

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hard to soak in. He was one of two hundred

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visitors to the Altadena Teen Boys Fire Recovery, a six

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day donation drive. He joined other young men in their

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families walking around piles of donated shoes, hoodies, and sunglasses.

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Out back, there were football games on big screen TVs.

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Tables had comic books, board games, toys, and brand new

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footballs and basketballs. A lot of the visitors were interested

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in the station where volunteers set up custom skateboards donated

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by streetwear brand golf Wang. Emmanuel is eighteen. Emmanuel is

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a student at Pasadena City College. He was one of

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the organizers. While volunteering at a girl's donation drive, a

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friend introduced him to Samantha, who wanted to launch a

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boys version, inspired by her eight year old son's insistence

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and giving some of his toys to kids who had

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lost theirs in the fires. Manuel said, it's been really

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hard just to have a regular conversation with people. You're

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still human and you still want to be treated like one.

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You don't want to be treated like a lost Puppy

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All the Time. Tomorrow, Thursday, January thirtieth, the podcast Critical

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Role is doing a special live one shot D and

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D adventure. Critical Role will host a chaotic and interactive

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one shot charity live stream titled Freaky Thursday that we

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live streamed on Critical Roles membership service Beacon, as well

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as their Twitch and YouTube channels starting at seven p m.

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Pacific time, Thursday, January thirtieth. Fans can donate a purchase

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rewards that directly shape the story, and story elements with

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the most donations will take center stage in the D

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and D adventure. The group has a goal of raising

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one hundred eighty thousand dollars. Each fundraising milestone reached will

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unlock unique surprises, including new allies, unexpected adversaries, or even

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character sheet swaps. Fans can continue to support their wildlife

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relief efforts through February twenty eighth by going to the

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Critical Role Foundation. Nice job, fellow podcasters, and those are

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your five good news stories for today. Back tomorrow with

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a normal episode. See you then,