We thought it was a betrayal of Los Angeles fire victims that the local government slow-rolled the building permit process to wait out property owners so the state could replace their homes with "low-income" apartments. It turns out, however, that the betrayal has just gotten worse.
We learn this week, thanks to the great work of a lone reporter at a small Southern California publication called Circling the News, that a whopping $100 million donated to help fire victims isn't making its way to actual fire victims.
FireAid money goes to nonprofits, who purport to help those who were affected by the fires. Instead those nonprofits donate to other nonprofits. No money for the victims. Why doesn't anyone care?
— Circling the News (@CirclingN) June 27, 2025
In the fires that started on January 7, 2025, about 6,800 homes were destroyed in the Pacific Palisades. Not all were mansions but all were on very valuable property in a tony section of Los Angeles that is close to Malibu and Santa Monica. In Altadena, a neighborhood close to leafy Pasadena, 9,400 homes and structures were destroyed in the fires.
Only a few weeks later, the biggest names in show business would come together to selflessly give their talents and time to put on a show that raised $100 million.
Tickets go on sale January 22 at noon PST. Donations can be made at https://t.co/ZWqMd1jdHA
— Red Hot Chili Peppers (@ChiliPeppers) January 16, 2025
*Contributions made to FireAid 501(c)(3) in connection with the FireAid benefit concert and other direct donations will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation and… pic.twitter.com/yRWwCkFFic
We feel sure that the naked drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers thought he was doing the right thing by handing over the money to the Annenberg Foundation. They deal in giving out money as a full time job, after all. But it turns out that what FireAid probably needed was something more akin to a 9/11 Victims Fund Special Master, who vetted all the needy victims and ensured the money went to them instead of this.
What they got instead, or have gotten so far, since $75 million has been handed out already, is a non-profit free-for-all.
We're very happy to report that a Sonoma, Calif. organization, based hundreds of miles from the fire zone, got a grant. An organization that cleans pre-school bathrooms was spiffed by the Annenberg Foundation.
Baby2Baby is probably a very fine foundation. Charlize Theron and Chrissy Teigen are featured on its webpage. The organization "single-handedly raises millions of dollars each year to make Baby2Baby’s work for children living in poverty possible." Did Baby2Baby cut checks to fire victims or something? Did they match the grant money to double the gift to the victims? No idea.
The National Day Labor Organizing Network was given fire victim money. We're unclear what giving money to the organization that riots and protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement has to do with giving money to fire victims.
We're sure the Flintridge Center is a fine Pasadena organization, but why do fire victims need apprenticeship programs? Perhaps they do. But how was that determined by the Annenberg Foundation?
Let's appreciate how $100 million could be used to help the 17,000 heads of households burned out of their homes—with no clothes, no place to go, maybe a burned-up Tesla sitting in what used to be the garage, and no idea where their kid is going to go to school next week
That $100 million in donations gathered at the end of January 2025 could have been used to get people temporarily housed in nearby area motels. It could have been used to buy a sweatshirt for the kids, a new diaper bag, gas for the car, and a few gift cards to Target and Denny's.
That money, which was given to the Annenberg Foundation to hand out to victims, could have been used to give roughly $6,000.00 per household to clean up lots, pay down the cost of permits, or get an architectural blueprint started.
Instead, that money has been handed off to NGOs and non-profits by the Annenberg Foundation, which probably thought it was doing the right thing by giving it to the non-profit that cleans pre-school toilets.
Once again, the non-profit borg has eaten the money and offered little in return. California fire victims obviously deserve better.
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