Supporting Fire Recovery with the Caltech Y

Caltech community members interested in volunteering to help with recovery from the Eaton fire can easily connect to opportunities through the Caltech Y.

Activity sign-up tables for Make a Difference Day will be near the Bechtel Residence and Avery House and near the South Houses over the lunch hour on April 4. Make a Difference Day will be Saturday, April 12.

With plentiful opportunities to work and connect, this annual day of service celebrates civic engagement, a pillar of the student-led Caltech Y. All members of the Caltech community are invited to sign up for student-led service projects, which last from 3.5 to six hours. Student participants will be prioritized for transportation and choice of sites.

This year, student volunteers are leading three Make a Difference Day projects for organizations that have had important recovery roles: the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Friends InDeed, and the Boys & Girls Club.

The Caltech Y also publicizes opportunities for people who would like to volunteer independently of Make a Difference Day:

• Organize and distribute essential supplies at the Carrows distribution center in South Pasadena with Day One (sign up).
• Distribute household goods in Hastings Ranch with Reach Out Worldwide (sign up).
• Donate to a fire-relief fund that will support long-term planning, transportation, and supplies for student-led volunteer projects (details forthcoming on the Caltech Y's fire relief web page) and other volunteer opportunities with local partner organizations.

The Caltech Y is a partner in the Eaton Fire Collaborative, a coalition of more than 90 local organizations including community groups, nonprofits, and government entities. Through the collaborative, these partners coordinate their efforts and streamline communication so that assistance and information reach people who need them in the wake of the January 2025 fire.

Caltech Y senior project manager Maya Rosental Saporito predicts that Caltech students and other community members will have even more opportunities to help when fire-affected sites are safe for rebuilding and replanting activities led by collaborative partners.

For more than a month before the collaborative was announced on March 6, Rosental Saporito participated in its formative meetings, discussing immediate and long-term recovery efforts.

On its launch day, the collaborative noted its determination to protect Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre's vibrance and resilience, and to be an organizing force that prioritizes the voices and needs of Eaton fire victims. In addition to strategizing recovery, the collaborative has centralized a calendar, a hub for posting and finding volunteer opportunities, and a repository of forms and recovery information.

Through the Caltech Y's leadership in service and its participation in the collaborative, Caltech community members and their neighbors, relatives, and friends, profoundly affected by the LA Fires, have a new path to helping each other recover and rebuild.