CCF Wildfire Recovery Fund Grants Helped Bring Stability to Local Schools After January Fires
With financial relief going out just days after the January wildfires, the California Community Foundation helped keep several local schools afloat with supplies and filled gaps when enrollments plummeted.
Among them were St. Matthew’s Parish School and Pasadena Waldorf School, which used the support from CCF’s Wildfire Recovery Fund to quickly replace essentials, secure temporary classrooms, support displaced families and stabilize operations as they began the long path to rebuilding.
St. Matthew’s faced a daunting challenge earlier this year when the Palisades Fire swept through its campus, destroying much of the school and displacing many families.
In an inspiring show of resilience, the school’s leadership, faculty, and families rallied to ensure students could continue their education with minimal interruption.
The fire ultimately destroyed the lower school, administration building and library. About 65% of families – including several staff – lost their homes. Despite the trauma, the school community quickly mobilized, said Katie Convoy, the school’s director of advancement.
In less than three weeks, St. Matthew’s administration was able to get all the students back into a classroom with their teachers. The school found temporary homes in Santa Monica and West Los Angeles. Retaining faculty was a top priority to help students continue to learn, Convoy said.
Keeping the same teachers “provides the familiarity, the psychological support that our students need in this moment, having lost their school, their homes, having that sense of consistency,” Convoy said.
Two days after the school was destroyed, the CCF provided a grant from its Wildfire Recovery Fund, which helped the school replace supplies, uniforms, technology and also provide counseling for distraught families, Convoy said.
“Having that influx of support from the California Community Foundation really contributed to our ability to maintain the spirit of St. Matthews during such a devastating time for so many. It brought a lot of comfort. It brought stability and it brought peace to our community,” she said.
St. Matthew’s plans to fully return to its Palisades campus in fall 2026.
“We’ve been saying that the walls aren’t what makes St. Matthews. It’s the community that makes St. Matthews, and we’ve been able to prove that’s true,” Convoy said.
When disaster struck Pasadena Waldorf, swift action and a heroic community effort helped prevent even greater loss.
The devastation of the Eaton Fire was severe: the school’s Mariposa campus – housing its historic Scripps Hall and other buildings – was destroyed, along with hundreds of trees.
But the Mendocino Street campus survived thanks to the bravery of one student’s grandparent who saw flames on the roof and doused them with a nearby hose. He was later joined by parents, faculty, and administrators who worked tirelessly in rotating shifts for days to extinguish hot spots in the vegetation around the school and protect what remained.
“We didn’t want to leave school unattended,” Brawley said. “It was an insane week. We just went to town and kept this campus from going up.”
The Mendocino campus sustained fire and smoke damage and is undergoing extensive remediation, he said.
The physical and emotional toll was intense for faculty and students, he said. But within weeks, administrators found temporary facilities in a local church in Burbank and a summer camp in Glendale, allowing students to resume their education.
During those early weeks of recovery, the financial support from CCF was crucial because enrollment plummeted as families left the area, Brawley said.
“To have support from CCF and other organizations that stepped up to cushion us during a time where everything was so uncertain – that was crucial. Even just to be able to say to our community: ‘We are fundraising, we have support, we’re going to be okay, stick with us.’
Recovery this year for Pasadena Waldorf has required creative solutions and substantial financial assistance. Fundraising, insurance claims, and federal support have been essential in addressing a funding gap projected at millions of dollars, Brawley said.
Pasadena Waldorf is now operating at a new temporary campus in Eagle Rock for students grades K-12.
The school has raised over $2 million so far, funding both short-term locations and long-term rebuilding. Brawley said the school has made the decision to return to Altadena and plans to rebuild its Mariposa Campus in the coming years.
It’s been a grueling year for the faculty and students – 40 families lost their homes, including Brawley whose Altadena home was destroyed in the Eaton Fire.
He bounced around at different friends’ houses, including a short stint in Claremont. But the commute was too much for him. Brawley later moved into a small loft downtown near L.A. City Hall and said he is learning a new way of life.
“We’re grateful to be alive,” Brawley said. “We’re embracing a new rhythm and a new thing. It is what it is.”
— Ben Poston