Dear Friend,

This is the first story in a series about single moms struggling after the Eaton fire. We are grateful to all of the donors and supporters that provided the funds for us to help survivors such as these women. All names have been changed to protect their privacy.

When the Eaton Fire swept through our region, Carla’s daily life came to an abrupt halt. A devoted single mother and full-time school bus driver, she had just returned from an unpaid winter break, only to learn that schools would remain closed indefinitely due to the fire. No school meant no bus routes—and no routes meant no paycheck.

Carla lives in affordable housing and carefully manages a limited budget. Without income for several weeks, she quickly fell behind on her January and February rent. The stress was overwhelming. After working diligently to create stability for her child, she now faced the very real threat of eviction, through no fault of her own.

Fortunately, Friends In Deed was able to step in with the critical support her household needed. Through our Eviction Prevention and Rental Assistance (EPRA) program, Carla received one-time emergency rental assistance. This funding allowed her to remain current on rent and avoid the devastating consequences of eviction.

Thanks to EPRA, Carla and her child were able to remain safely housed. And when schools reopened, she returned to work with one less burden on her shoulders. Because sometimes, all it takes is timely support to help a family stay on their feet—and keep moving forward.

We are just over a week away from our final fundraising event for this fiscal year: Stories from the Street! Come and enjoy an evening under the stars, as we show the film, The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith. There is still time to join as a sponsor, which will help further our mission of caring for the most vulnerable in our community. All the information is on our website and at the bottom of this email. Don’t wait, sign up now!

Finally, on Wednesday evening, I was honored to be elected as the next Chair of the Pasadena Human Services Commission. I look forward to working with my fellow commissioners as we seek ways to improve the lives of those living in our community. The commission meets monthly at the Jackie Robinson Center and is open to the public.  

To all of the dads out there–Happy Father’s Day!

Blessings and have a lovely weekend,

Rabbi Joshua

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At Friends In Deed, we honor the dignity and privacy of every person we serve. The stories we share are real, but sometimes, we change names or minor details or use stock photos to protect our clients’ identities. Thanks for your compassion, understanding, and support.

Friends In Deed is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. We embrace and celebrate the spectrum of our employees’, volunteers’, and clients’ ages, color, ability or disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, neurodiversity, and other characteristics that make our employees, volunteers, and clients unique.