How to help out people in L.A. besides just sending money

In the next four years, you will get probably tired of these kinds of pleas: the tragedy that consumes a city, portending much more grand-scale climate doom to come, that you, the regular citizen, are begged to help out with, through slick Instagram graphics and dour GoFundMe links. This kind of ground-level roll call of support across states should not be necessary in this country of wealth so opulent that billionaires think they can pull off this look. But the incoming federal administration has made it clear that life-saving support might only come after passing re-Neducation loyalty tests to the very wise and beautiful Republican party, so we might have to get used to relying on each other. 

The good news is: New Yorkers are pretty good at this, and have lots of practice in it, from Occupy Sandy to the mutual aid group explosion during the pandemic. So we must turn these efforts toward our Left Coast friends in need right now. We’ve rounded up a few of the best ways to act locally and help out in Southern California, from benefit shows you can attend to seed donation drives, plus some scams you should be aware of. 

We’ll note here that not every local fundraiser is a great idea: some want you to buy specialty cocktails just to get your money, others want you to buy steak, which is extremely counter productive when it comes to fighting climate change. Here are some worthy ones.

Saved by the Bell House 

It can be hard to laugh at a time like this but you simply got to trust a bunch of bicoastal comedy all stars to figure out the best way to make it work. The Bell House — now mostly a comedy venue as part of Live Nation, as we broke last year  — is hosting a fundraiser on January 27 called NY LOVES LA that will feature  Phoebe Robinson, Chris Gethard, Myq Kaplan, Sydnee Washington, Todd Barry, Zach Zimmerman and Seaton Smith, with music from Louis Cato. The funds will benefit the League of California Community Foundation Palisades, Eaton WildFire Recovery & Relief Funds, World Central Kitchen Southern California Meal Support Efforts and “additional organizations raising funds to support displaced individuals."

More comedy to help raise money

Littlefield is hosting its own comedy fundraiser on Feb. 7, featuring Chanel Ali, Jay Jurden, Sahib Singh, Liza Treyger, Bryan Vogt-Nilsen, Sureni Weerasekera.

Hella bands for a good cause

A famous three-day festival that L.A. people enjoy is known as Coachella. In New York, we once had some pretty great festivals (RIP Northside) and one very confusing one (Great GoogaMooga, we hardly knew ye). But we do still have plenty of very good musicians and venues.

Three venues in Manhattan are holding a three-day music fest to support wildfire relief running from Jan. 27 to 29, with tattoos, DJ sets and raffles too. Proceeds will go directly to a different mutual aid effort every night. The festival features lots of acts across the venues each day, with personal fave 95 Bulls on the docket for one of the nights. 

For other benefit shows, the good folks at OhMyRockness are keeping track of them here.

(Point of order: Is it gauche to attend benefit rock or comedy shows for a good cause in a time like this instead of just sending money to LA directly? I say no: for one, hosting benefit events lowers the barrier for donation for people who might not normally click on a GoFundMe link; it also provides much needed communal relief from the horrors of the world, a feeling that you're not alone in your grief and that others are united by the same cause. A good mosh pit does wonders for the soul.)

Kancil culture

On Mondays through March 3 at the Malaysian restaurant Kancil on the Upper West Side, half the day’s proceeds will be sent to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.

Darty for good

Public Records, the DJ-centric event space and vegan restaurant in Gowanus, is turning their regular 2pm Sunday party into a fundraiser this week; some of the proceeds going to the Pasadena Humane Society to help animals who are suffering from the crisis.

Physical donations  

Several physical-item donation spots in the city have already reached capacity (like we said, New Yorkers are good at this). If you find a place that is overwhelmed with donations and still want to help, ask if they need volunteers to help sort and ship it instead. And if you do have a chance to donate clothes and other goods, make sure not to donate a bunch of junk, which has been a real problem apparently.

Helping artists 

If you’d like to buy some artwork to support the cause, Hyperallergic has rounded up a solid list of artists and galleries who are raising money. They’ve got a separate list of resources you can use to support L.A. artists directly here, including local facilities offering residencies. 

Buy coastal shirt 

Greenpoint’s Kingsland Editions has made this shirt to benefit wildfire victims, uniting the bicoastal cities with the fonts of our famous local newspapers. The designer says that all funds go directly to Mutual Aid LA. 

Grow back better

Grassroots recovery efforts sometimes start with literal grass: This Sunday, South Slope’s Flowers For All will be posted up at a wine bar in Clinton Hill, collecting seeds to send to California. The focus is on native Californian seeds to help rejuvenate the state’s soil (food seeds are not being accepted, because the soil is too contaminated in some places). 

Beware of scams!

Because our phones are an endless nightmare of scams and AI slop now, you might get some legit-seeming emails or text messages asking for donations, but they may not be legit. Attorney General Tish James’ office has a list of ways to ensure you are not falling for the most evil kind of scam, including being wary of newly formed organizations, and never giving cash (especially not in a shoebox).

Read the local media 

When in doubt about what to do, trust the local media on the ground more than any national (or New York!) media who are sometimes very literally airlifted in to cover the story for a few days. LAist, for example, is covering the fire closely, answering a lot of questions and myth busting a lot of the conspiracies popping up surrounding the fires. The LA Public Press is tracking local relief efforts.

Don’t get smog smug

America’s folly of continuing to sprawl-baby-sprawl in places that famously don’t have water notwithstanding, California’s fire problems are our problems, and their apocalypse is apocalypse. West Coast and East Coast will be united in suffering under climate change, and the inaction of our government knows no state boundaries. 

We may have the blessing to live in a particularly wet part of the country, but this fall’s drought brought wildfires to Prospect Park and other places around the city, a chilling reminder of how quickly things can turn. Our city might not be burning right now, but we might end up inhaling smoke from embers that started very far away, so don’t look away.