A brush fire started in Los Angeles the evening of Jan. 7, and by nightfall it had grown into a massive mountain fire known as the Eaton fire. The Eaton fire, as well as other fires that came after that, erupted toward residential areas, displacing thousands of people. As a result, many donation centers popped up, including multiple hot dog vendors, Jimmy Medina from Tacos Los Huicholes, Christopher Bailey, Adriana Young, and Jerry Martinez. They were located outside of the Rose Bowl, giving out free food and water for first responders and people displaced by the fires. This small fire relief center quickly grew, causing it to be moved into a 750,000 square-foot donation center at the Santa Anita Racetrack parking lot. From there, many other food trucks, street vendors, and organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Soul 2 Soul Recovery Center began to join them.

“Originally, we were at the Rose Bowl, but then we moved here because the whole thing got so big. We got a lot of donations from our TikTok followers and a lot of giant corporations like T-Mobile, Uhaul, Tesla, and more came to help us. Even FEMA came to assist us. What was really crazy is that they told us that what we did here, helping out all these people, was comparable to the National Guard,” said Bailey.  

This isn’t the first time that these street vendors have organized something like this before, though. 

“We usually do TikTok live streams and feed people on Skid Row. When this happened, especially since we’re already in this line of work, we knew that we could help with fire relief and do something to help the Los Angeles community,” said Bailey. 

Bailey is the founder of the Christopher Bailey Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to combat hunger in the homeless community. He also does TikTok live streams under the name of Klover King Productions. His videos document the Palisades and Eaton fire donation efforts, from the very first day outside of the Rose Bowl, handing out hot dogs and water, to the last day of the Santa Anita Donation Center event.

The Santa Anita Racetrack lot was originally reserved for Edison trucks as they worked to fix the power in cities affected by the power shutdown. But once Allen Gharakhani, a Klover King Production member, applied for space along with other vendors, Santa Anita Racetrack was able to make Lot 3 available to them. From that moment, hundreds of people began to show up to volunteer and donate. Due to the abundance of donations, the center had to stop accepting donations, steering people towards volunteering instead. 

“We got a lot of food, and a lot of food trucks came. We had music, and things for kids, and a bunch of other stuff. It was just to boost these people’s morale because a lot of these people had been devastated by these fires,” said Bailey. 

Volunteers sorted through the donations, sorting them as they came and preparing them to be received. Clothing donations were separated by the type of clothing and age group. Donations did not just stop at clothing, though. People donated toys, food, dog food, dog toys, toiletries, water, and more. People were even able to get haircuts, courtesy of the Western Barber Institute. 

On the last day of the event, Jan. 17, TikToker @mamaandmelab said, “We’re giving out cookies for all the volunteers who have been volunteering yesterday and today.”

Many of the volunteers and organizations wanted to give thanks to TikTok as well as the TikTok community.

“All these people are relying on the community to support them, and without the community’s involvement, none of this would have happened, you know. Without TikTok and the support that came in from TikTok, nothing would have happened,” said Bailey.  

The Santa Anita Donation Center was an amazing display of human generosity and kindness during this crisis, and much like the other events for fire relief, organizations and volunteers are still working to continue to help the community.

“Since today was our last day, what we’re trying to do next is to go to a location closer to the Palisades and to be able to connect with more verified victims of the fire. It was really devastating to the community, and so now it’s just up to us to help as much as possible,” said Bailey. 

Many fire relief organizations are still looking for volunteers in the area, some of which include: the Flintridge Center, Neighbors and Friends, and Pasadena Community Job Center. You can find more information here.

Photo Courtesy of PAULA ECCLESTON