A Call for Community Support in the Wake of California’s Most Destructive Fire
To the Williams Football Community,
Although the Pacific Palisades may be roughly 3,000 miles away from Farley-Lamb Field, it’s impossible to calculate the devastation inflicted on the town in any metric unit. The place once known for being a vibrant and tight-knight neighborhood in Los Angeles, will now forever be known as the epicenter of the Palisades Fire, the most destructive inferno in California’s history. While there may only be a few residents who know about the college or can tell you what an Eph is, the Palisades and Williams are often coincidentally described to people by the same sentence: One heck of a powerful, little community.
As a current Williams football player born and raised in the Pacific Palisades, it’s been debilitating to watch my childhood neighborhood be burned to the ground on live television. Further, it’s broken my heart to see the politicization and finger-pointing of a fire which occurred in a town that never made room for either of those vices. It’s difficult to understand what made the Pacific Palisades so special from the national news coverage. It was a community that valued the 4th of July 5k run more than the Hollywood glamor, a place where the local little league field was more packed on a Saturday than the Dodgers game, where a lively mobile home park allowed Palisadians to remain in their beloved abodes since the 70’s, and a town fueled by small businesses (the majority being owned by women).
For me, losing my house has triggered a mixture of emotions from sadness, shock, and regret. The inanimate objects that were reduced to ash may not have been living, but I still mourn the loss of hundreds of items that served as the proof of my existence. Not the type of proof to convince someone of my being, but the evidence serving to remind me of the defining moments from each stage of my life. I had one minute on the phone with my sister to tell her the items I wanted saved from my bedroom which spanned over 20 years of my life. No one can think straight in a frantic moment like that, but I still regret asking her to grab the box with my gift-cards instead of the invaluable things like my late grandpa’s hat to my first curl of hair that my mom had preserved all these years.
The city of angels looked like more like the city of demons on the night of January 12, 2025. However, when the dust finally settles and the community starts to recover, the Pacific Palisades is going to need every ounce of help it can get to rebuild such a unique place. I can’t promise that every store and house will be revived, but I can promise that one thing will never have to be restored because it was never destroyed, and that’s the undying spirit of the Palisades. So, I graciously ask the Williams Football Community to donate whatever they can to help the small businesses impacted by the unprecedented fires in Southern California, as well as the first responders risking their lives around the clock to save lives. Thank you and Go Ephs!
With Immense Gratitude,
Holden Gering ’27
How You Can Help:
American Red Cross: Visit redcross.org, or Call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767), or Text the word CAWILDFIRES to 90999 to donate.
Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation: Visit supportlafd.kindful.org, or Call (310)-552-4139 to donate.