After losing her home in the Eaton Fire, Dana Sledge says she started getting calls from her mortgage company about selling her property.
The Altadena resident was appalled, and told them her home is not for sale. Sledge was among hundreds of people who gathered Saturday in the parking lot of Fair Oaks Burger, the only surviving building on its block after the Eaton Fire.
Their message: “Altadena Not For Sale.”
The restaurant, which has been feeding the community for more than a month, has become a gathering place for displaced residents. On Saturday, it was the site of a rally for people like Sledge, who want to preserve the neighborhoods leveled by the Eaton Fire.
Sledge said the elderly in particular have been targeted as one group of potential sellers. To her, “Altadena Not For Sale” is not just a rallying cry, but a “walking advertisement.”
“Some people don't have a lot of fight — they're preying upon that,” Sledge said. “It's not that people don't love their homes, love their community. People grew up here.”
Heavenly Hughes is co-founder of My Tribe Rise — the group behind the “Altadena Not For Sale” T-shirts.
“We wanna let people know that Altadena is not for sale, that we’re gonna find a way to keep land and property within the community," Hughes said, "whether it’s we’re buying and selling from one another, whether it’s finding out about land trusts…finding out about subsidies that can help our community members be able to do the new build."
Generational homes
Elena Lopez’s former home was just two houses down from Fair Oaks Burger. She’s lived in Altadena since 1973 and says she’s rebuilding.
“I raised my kids in this home and my nieces and nephews. This is a generational home that’s been passed down," Lopez said.
Next to her was her niece, Monami Ruiz, also born and raised in Altadena. She was back in the community to sift through her former house for keepsakes and to pick up supplies for their current home.
To her the slogan is a call for the neighborhood to return to what it once was.
“Don’t ever give up on your community," Ruiz said. "Everybody needs to come back to Altadena and make it just an amazing place again.”
Feeding the community
In addition to bringing like-minded people together, Saturday's event extended Fair Oaks Burger's commitment to keeping people fed. On Saturday, Fair Oaks Burger, local community organization My Tribe Rise, and the AIDS Health Foundation provided fresh produce, hot meals, free clothing and other supplies for the community.
“We already exceeded 400 families here today,” says Carlos Marroquin, director of food for health with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation — who said they expected the crowd to continue throughout the afternoon.
Marroquin, who has provided aid in other natural disasters, says events like today’s rally are about lifting people up.
“The problem here is that people are gonna get desperate, but we have to remind each other that if we work together, if we become advocates for those people that are struggling… that is key for our success," he said.
Marroquin says his organization will be providing food indefinitely.
“Our goal here is long term…every week, every Saturday from 9 to 12, we are serving right here in this location,” he said.
Funding from the World Central Kitchen for these free meals will end at the beginning of April. But the burger joint’s owners Janet and Christy Lee have no intention of stopping.
