Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1536052
Community Rises Community Rises from the Ashes from the Ashes It was a windy January day when the first spark lit in the Palisades. It took only moments for the spark to spread into a fire that, along with the Eaton Fire and the dozens of smaller fires that would spring up throughout the next few weeks across Los Angeles, destroyed thousands of homes, displaced tens of thousands of people, and killed more than two dozen. Amidst all this chaos, the Costume Designers Guild (CDG), IATSE Local 892, began organizing a free clothing drive for the fire victims. They soon received an influx of costumer volunteers, who had the A C T I V I S M By Kathleen Qiu PHOTO: ALICE PICO and she donated a lot of stuff. Every few minutes, people would drop off new donations," Cat Velosa, dual-card Local 892/705 member and volunteer coordinator, told me: "The response from the community with clothing donations became overwhelming and we had to stop taking donations." At the entrance, volunteers from not only 705 and 892, but other unions: IATSE Locals 44, 80, 700, 800, 871, SAG-AFTRA, and so many more, were busily unpacking boxes and bags of clothes, hanging them up and curating pieces into different categories. "If the clothes aren't up to par, we clothing organization and styling mindset from working thousands of TV shows and movies with enormous clothing stocks, casts, and other needs. It was a bright sunny day, eerily blue, only one week since the first fires began, when I arrived at the CDG for my first volunteer shift. By this time, an almost insurmountable amount of clothing donations had already arrived. "There was a production that had just wrapped in Atlanta and sent everything to us. Retail stores donated their overstock. Reba McEntire has a fashion line, 6 SUMMER 2025 Lili Pillet (left), Ariel Boroff (right), and other 705/892 friends utilizing their skills.