A California native who replanted in Dallas is doing something about it. Tiffani Kocsis grew up in Pasadena, just outside LA, and after moving to Dallas, she opened East Dallas Middle Ground coffee shop. After seeing the destruction in her hometown, she decided to help the youngest victims, many of whom likely just lost their Christmas loot.
"EDMG is renting a U-Haul truck that will be parked out front of the shop for the next week. The children of Altadena, Pasadena, and the surrounding areas just celebrated the holiday with their families and their wished for gifts, toys, bedding, clothing all were lost within the unprecedented fires."
Kocsis rented the truck on Saturday and will park it in front of their coffee shop for the next week. She hopes to fill it with gifts and then coordinate with an organization in the Altadena and Pasadena areas to distribute them. For more information, see the details in her post.
They hope to cover a wide scope of items kids and teens will need, including clothing, bedding, bikes, scooters, video games and consoles. All in new, good or gently used condition.
Kocsis says they'll also accept Venmo if you'd rather send cash; write "Eaton fire donations" in the note.
"I'm buying teenage-oriented gift cards with any monetary donations," she says. "Utla, Sephora, sports, that kind of thing since teens are often hardest to get things for."
The truck will be open to receive gifts from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. starting Sunday, Jan. 11.
If they get enough stuff, they'll rent a second truck. C'mon now, Dallas, we're no one-U-Haul-truck city.
