Los Angeles Wildfires Disaster Relief
January 11:
Inviting Community Involvement
Written By Ida Eva Zielinska
Published #76 | Spring 2025 Issue
Attendees of the Interfaith event on January 11, 2025, pray together for an end to the wildfires and for the safety of those affected. Photo/Jennifer Chien
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On January 11, Tzu Chi USA held an interfaith prayer service at its San Gabriel Valley Service Center. By then, four days after they began, the wildfires were still raging, uncontained, with over 100,000 Los Angeles County residents under mandatory evacuation orders.
Led by Tzu Chi USA CEO Debra Boudreaux, Los Angeles Buddhist Union President Ven. Bhante Chao Chu, and Rev. Jan Chase, Pastor of Unity Church Pomona, the prayer event brought together representatives from the Los Angeles County government, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, and key leaders from various overseas Chinese communities.
We are deeply grateful to have Southern California’s interfaith leaders and representatives from various organizations gather today to offer sincere prayers of love, and we hope that this collective energy will transform the situation. In addition to the power of prayer, we need the collective strength of compassion.
Boudreaux outlined Tzu Chi USA’s disaster response and encouraged everyone to support the mission in any way they could. Several attendees donated during the event, while others expressed their intent to assist in various other capacities. At the Service Center, they could also see the relief supplies Tzu Chi was gathering – including food, warm clothing, hygiene products, and more – to which they were invited to contribute.
That same afternoon, Tzu Chi USA established the Los Angeles Wildfires Emergency Operations Center at the San Gabriel Valley Service Center, linking all its chapters across the United States. Volunteers from Tzu Chi USA’s Northwest Region, Seattle Branch, San Francisco Branch, Portland Service Center, and Sacramento Service Center also launched street fundraising efforts to support the Help Los Angeles Heal campaign, which began that day.
By January 13, Tzu Chi announced that, thanks to a generous benefactor, all donations to the campaign would be matched up to $1 million.
