Around 5:30 a.m. on January 8, 2025, the alert sounded on John Cress’s phone. He and his wife would have to evacuate their home in the Glen Oaks neighborhood of Glendale as the Eaton Fire charred a path toward them. The sky was black with smoke and tinged with red and orange.

Cress, who serves as president of the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, together with his wife, Karen, gathered documents, photos, and two suitcases of clothes. They drove away that morning not knowing what the future might hold as the massive Palisades and Eaton wildfires exploded in size, chewing through neighborhood after neighborhood, driven forward by the mighty Santa Ana winds.

The Cresses first stopped at a restaurant for breakfast and, while there, made a hotel reservation. After moving into their hotel room, John Cress drove to the Southern California Conference office in Glendale and quickly called a meeting of the conference executive officers to discuss the fires and what steps to take in response. Installed into his position roughly three months prior, it was the first crisis scenario confronting his presidency. Others in his cabinet — executive secretary Danny Chan and executive vice president and Adventist Community Services director Royal Harrison — were also new to their positions. The team had just developed new vision and mission statements. 

“When this took place, [we realized] something has to happen, but we were not sure what,” Cress said, recalling his admonition to his team. “We cannot stand still.”

Cress canceled a conference leadership meeting that had been planned and handed leadership of outreach efforts to Harrison and the Adventist Community Services disaster response ministry. A decision was made for the conference office to serve as a central hub for providing aid to impacted communities. Meanwhile, Adventist churches in the area opened their doors as evacuation centers. 

The Southern California Conference serves Los Angeles and Ventura counties as well as parts of Santa Barbara and Kern counties, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the two communities most devastated by the blazes. As of January 21, the Eaton fire, which decimated Altadena, was 89 percent contained and covered 14,021 acres, while the Palisades fire was 65 percent contained and had impacted 23,448 acres. Altogether both wildfires have reportedly destroyed 15,798 structures and taken the lives of 28 people.

Rapid Response

The conference team’s first effort toward providing aid for fire victims was to drive a transit van to Smart & Final to purchase blankets, food, and pallets of water and deliver them to the five churches that were serving evacuees. However, the team realized that much more aid was needed, Cress said. The conference began rapidly organizing an outreach event planned for Sunday, Jan. 12. Calls for volunteers and donations of needed items were posted on the conference website and social media beginning January 9, as well as information about a fund that was set up on the AdventistGiving platform to gather financial donations for wildfire victims. [To donate, please click here.]

“Everything happened so fast. It was in the span of less than 24 hours,” said Lauren Lacson, director of communication and media production for the Southern California Conference. “People's homes were being lost and our members were being impacted.” 

Social Media Impact

In concert with the leadership team, she and her crew — Michelle Noland, associate media production director, and Araya Moss, communication specialist — set about sharing social media content to spread the word about the community outreach event and an opportunity to give online. Video messages were also produced with updates and words of comfort from Cress and Harrison. 

The social media messaging, which circulated rapidly through the digital universe, made a big impact. The conference’s Instagram account gained 97 new followers the week that messages calling for assistance were posted, with the Facebook page gaining more than 1,000 new followers in the immediate weeks after the fires. 

“The word just spread more quickly than any of us could have imagined,” Lacson said. “And it really came out of the desire that people had to help, because everyone was impacted. There was this eagerness and this deep desire to help, so when the opportunities came, it didn't take much to rally and move forward with the support that we needed.”

The call for volunteers to assist with set up on Saturday night for the Sunday outreach drew a large response.

“Volunteers came out of the woodwork,” Cress said, with upwards of 300 arriving Saturday evening, Jan. 11, to help set up and organize for the next day’s outreach. Volunteers included many young people who helped spread the digital call for assistance.

“This Is What Church Is About”

Help also arrived from Adventist institutions around the region including from Eagle Rock Seventh-day Adventist Church, which lent canopies for the event; and from Adventist Health Glendale, which contributed air purifiers, masks, water, vitamin water, and fresh fruit.

Sunday was a 12-hour day in which more than 100 families were served. Donated goods continued to flow in throughout the event. In addition, the distribution event received a surprise visit from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass who arrived to provide support.

Meanwhile, donations flowed into the online fundraising drive and large gifts were provided by other Adventist institutions — the Hawaii Conference contributed $10,000 and the Northern California Conference gave $25,000. Southern California Conference is hoping to raise $250,000 to $300,000, Cress said.

“It’s amazing, such an outpouring of generosity,” he said, noting that the conference is developing a plan for equitable distribution of funds.

Many Adventist families have been impacted by the blazes, and while the number of homes lost by Southern California Conference members is still being determined, it is estimated that as many as 50 homes were lost. 

Despite their own challenges, Adventists from Altadena showed up to volunteer with the conference’s January 12 event in Glendale. Cress recalled a comment from one member whose sentiments reflected the spirit of the occasion remarking, “This is what church is about.”