In the aftermath of the recent Los Angeles wildfires, a group of San Fernando Valley teens and tweens have stepped up to provide their peers impacted by the fires with brand-name hoodie sweatshirts.
“We were just feeling really helpless,” Alexis White Lam, an Encino resident whose two sons and three nieces spearheaded the effort, the aptly named Neighborhoodie LA, told The Journal.
Acting on that initial feeling of helplessness, the family decided to collect hoodies for young people impacted by the fires. As was the case with many San Fernando Valley families, Lam’s family was temporarily evacuated. During their evacuation, they begin realizing the scale of the devastation caused by the Palisades and Eaton Fires. Lam asked her kids if they wanted to help those who’ve lost their homes. Their response was an enthusiastic affirmative.
On Jan. 12, five days after the outbreak of the Palisades Fire, the family launched the initiative.
To get the word out, Lam, a college counselor with clients across the country, used her social media network to amplify the call for hoodies, specifically those from designers that teens love. They requested brand-new hoodies as well as donations of gently used designer-brand apparel.
For the past several weeks, Lam, her two sons and three nieces have coordinated donation dates and drop sites for hoodie sweatshirts. Last month, the crew dropped of new sweatshirts at the LA County Arboretum, which was hosting a “Care Camp” that had been serving children impacted by the Eaton Fire.
Lam’s two sons — 14-year-old Max, a student at The Buckley School, and 10-year-old Emmet, a student at Wise School — have been instrumental in helping, as have her nieces, Emma, Olivia, and Lyla, ages 8, 12 and 15, respectively.
“I wanted to help because I thought no one should ever have to feel cold and without something to comfort them,” Olivia told the Journal.
To date, the family has donated approximately 500 hoodies, benefiting teens, tweens and their parents.
Why hoodies? There’s more to hoodies than just being a comfy piece of clothing, Lam said. Research shows there are psychological benefits to wearing one. In fact, teens feel a sense of calm or security by slipping into their favorite hoodie, with a familiar hoodie triggering feel-good emotions, she said. For Lam, learning that reinforced the value in what they’ve been doing.
Some of the major apparel companies that have stepped up to donate hoodies include YoungLA and Chill Skeleton. YoungLA, a Los Angeles-based clothing brand, recently donated 30 boxes, for a total of nearly 170 hoodies.
On Feb. 9, Lam and her kids brought their hoodies to NELA Hub, a free store for fire-affected Altadena residents who have been affected by the fires, that has been offering a curated selection of clothing, toiletries, kids’ items, home goods and more. The store is open every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The response from the wider community, including from individuals, families and clothing companies, has been heartening but unsurprising, Lam said. The mother of two said the immediate aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires reminded her of the period in New York that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, when everyone in the city came together to support one another.
The response from the wider community, including from individuals, families and clothing companies, has been heartening but unsurprising, Lam said.
Ultimately, her kids and nieces felt like they had to help peers who’d been impacted.
“All of the kids know at least one person, if not 25 people, who’ve lost everything. Between their friends at school, kids they text with or know on Snapchat, everywhere there are kids they know who’ve been affected,” Lam said. “They’re like, ‘Mommy, we got to pack stuff for so and so.’”
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