LA Wildfires: How CORE’s Cash and Voucher Assistance is Helping Families

The Eaton and Palisades Fires, which erupted in early January 2025, forever changed the lives of tens of thousands of people across Southern California. The fires killed at least twenty-nine people and damaged or destroyed roughly 17,000 homes. Block after block was left charred and in ruins. Entire communities were lost, and everything residents had once known was gone.

CORE sprang into action, quickly providing displaced residents who found refuge at the Pasadena Convention Center with portable chargers and internet access to connect with loved ones. Across the city, CORE also distributed tens of thousands of hygiene kits and N95 masks to help those in need.

Since the outbreak of fires, CORE has continued working tirelessly with community members and local authorities to give those impacted a hand in their road to recovery.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CORE’s FIRST PHASE OF FIRE RESPONSE

As part of our five-year programming effort, CORE has adopted a multipronged approach that aims to target specific problems or issues those impacted by the fires face. One of those is Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA).

The fire took everything. Kim only had the clothes on her back when she and her husband fled their Altadena home in the early hours of January 8, 2025, amid the howling winds and showering embers. When she returned days later, the entire neighborhood was ash. The place she’d called home for over thirty years was gone.

After the fire, Kim and her husband, like many Altadena residents, found refuge at the emergency shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center. Seeing so many families displaced was heartbreaking, but Kim found a silver lining despite the unthinkable tragedy. Amongst the rows of cots, she could still find community. Altadena residents from all over the city came together, consoling and comforting one another during this terrible, unthinkable moment, showing the city’s unbreakable spirit.

In the following hours and days, Kim, like everyone else, began to look forward and try to start picking up the pieces. She went from booth to booth at the shelter, meeting with representatives from different agencies and organizations. Eventually, someone recommended visiting the CORE booth.

There, she met with a CORE team member who helped her sign up for our cash assistance program. This first phase of our CVA funding is aimed at helping residents address gaps in their personal needs. While in-kind goods, like clothes or hygiene kits, are undoubtedly critical, people’s needs are often unique and ever-changing. CVA gives people the flexibility to spend the money where it’s most needed.

You don’t truly realize everything you have until it’s gone. And it’s not just the big things, like a car, an oven, or a refrigerator. It’s the small, everyday items you reach for when you need them, from forks and knives to nail clippers or a hairbrush.

CORE staff pose for a photo at a booth where people could sign up for CVA

For Kim, the CVA funds gave her a sense of stability, knowing that she had some funds for unexpected needs, like a tank of gas to get to and from the Disaster Recovery Center.

“With cash, there’s something, you know, that gives you some security,” Kim said.

Kim and her family know that they have a long road ahead, as they look to rebuild and return home, but it’s the small acts of kindness from organizations like CORE that keep her going.

“I mean, um, emotionally, mentally, financially, it’s what’s keeping us going. I think those acts, they feel like acts of kindness, when they (non-profit organizations) or just people coming to the rescue, and it’s what keeps you going,” Kim said.

If you’d like to learn more about CORE’s ongoing wildfire work and our years-long plan for those impacted, please visit our response page. Or if you’d like to support our efforts, please visit our donation page.