Families Open Their Homes to Fire Evacuees

As fires raged through Southern California, thousands of families had to evacuate their homes, and many in the Jewish community stepped up to provide shelter and support.

Among those who opened their home were Sherman Oaks resident Elizabeth Yung, her husband and her three children, ages 5, 11 and 13.

The Yungs took in Westlake Village residents Sonja Hillman Suchy, her husband, her 13-year-old step-daughter, her mother and the family’s cat and dog.  

Yung was checking Facebook on the evening of Nov. 8, when she saw a post from their Rabbi Sarah Hronsky at Temple Beth Hillel that said, “If anybody needs assistance with some place to stay, please get in touch with me and I’ll help.”

This, despite the fact that the Hronsky’s were dealing with their own problems. Hronsky’s husband is Yuri Hronsky, who is the head of Ilan Ramon Day School, which suffered major damage in the fires.  

When Hillman Suchy posted that they needed a place to stay, with Hronsky’s post in mind, the Yungs quickly invited them to stay.

“My little one is bunked up with us and they are taking his room and the living room,” Yung said. “My daughter is having a great time, because she has a friend now with her.”

Despite the close quarters, Yung said, “It’s a mitzvah, and I know [Hillman Suchy] would do the same for me too.”

“We are part of the Nashuva community. Everything about the way we think is tikkun olam. That’s how we look at life and how we raised our children.” — Wendy Altman Cohen

 

When news of the fire started to spread on Nov. 8, Santa Monica resident Wendy Altman Cohen reached out to friends she thought might need a place to stay.

One of her good friends, Cherryl Goldstein, lives in Thousand Oaks. Altman Cohen texted her around 10:30 p.m. to see if she and her son, Evan, needed to evacuate.

“My initial instinct was, ‘Are you OK?,’” Altman Cohen told the Journal. “As soon as [Cherryl] wrote back her comment was, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘Come here.’ ”

The two texted back and forth until 1 a.m. but Goldstein said she was OK for the night. However, when Altman Cohen woke up the morning of Nov. 9 and saw the extent of the fires, she texted Goldstein again. This time, Goldstein responded they were on their way.

“She brought her son, herself and a mini-van full of stuff,” Altman Cohen said. “What was really nice was when she and her son went to sleep on Friday night, they felt safe and secure,” she added. The Goldsteins headed back home on Nov. 11 with supplies.

Opening her home, Altman Cohen said, was the most natural thing she could do. “I grew up in a Jewish household in New York, and we are part of the Nashuva community. Everything about the way we think is Tikkun Olam. That’s how we look at life and how we raised our children.”