One month ago, Jonathan A. Mason asked Terry Lynn O’Donnell one question: “What are we going to do about California?”
Turns out, the answer is: plenty.
Mason, pastor of Northeast Baptist Church and O’Donnell, his contemporary at The Church of Christian Compassion, mobilized their combined congregation of 1,200 in working-class neighborhoods in Philadelphia to gather $25,000 worth of emergency supplies. Then they hired two semi-trucks to deliver the goods to California.
“This is the epitome of ‘I am my brother’s keeper,’” said Anthony McFarland, pastor and founder of LIFT International in Altadena. “When one is hurting, we’re all hurting and it’s no good until we come together.”
On Thursday, pastors from nine local churches and ministries, as well as the two pastors from Philadelphia, met the two trucks and unloaded supplies destined for fire victims. Darrin and Belen Doram, owners of the Grocery Outlet in San Gabriel, allowed the trucks to park in their lot and wait for church leaders to pick up the supplies.
Before the trucks arrived, Mason toured neighborhoods laid waste by the wildfire.
“This is what I saw: addresses with no more homes, columns with numbers and behind them, just shells and remains of houses. I saw cars parked in front of homes that were no more and families walking in the debris,” he said.
Mason said television coverage of the California wildfires did not feature communities of color “so it was important we impact communities who needed this and the pastors who lost churches and homes and are still helping.”
Aside from McFarland’s LIFT International, other churches and groups that received donations include Pasadena Church, Community Bible Church, Hillside Tabernacle City of Faith, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and Pasadena Community Coalition.
Their leaders unloaded everything from medical supplies, toiletries, water, baby formula, pet food, toys, cleaning supplies and non-perishable food for hours on Thursday, undeterred by rain.
“We thank the people of Philadelphia for their generosity and this heartfelt mission,” McFarland said.
For Mason, the campaign was personification of his mantra: “It’s a blessing to be a blessing.”
“Philly was really engaged in this,” he said, adding that support came from 30 community partners, from Baptist and other Christian churches to Philadelphia city leaders, fraternities, and businesses. Pennsylvania Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams paid for the cost of one of the semi-trucks.
The collection gathered such a surplus of supplies that after a medical jet crashed in a Philadelphia neighborhood on Jan. 31, the churches were able to donate to victims on the ground.
The Philadelphia pastors’ connection to Altadena was Mason’s Phi Beta Sigma fraternity brother Ron Carter, a public relations consultant who lost three structures on his Altadena property. His main house was one of three homes on his block that survived the fire.
“I’m struggling with survivor’s guilt and being able to give back helps,” Carter said. “This collaboration is a reminder that in the face of adversity, institutions can stand together as one to benefit the residents of different states.”
McFarland’s church on Lake Avenue, which he co-founded with his wife Micheline, as well as their home of 32 years, burned down in the Eaton Fire. Their pets, a four-year-old poodle named Ziggy and a cat named Sophie, also died in the fire. Of the 200 households in his church, 17 lost their homes and 26 remain displaced.
LIFT, which means Living In Faith Together, now uses a chapel at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Lake Avenue, meeting at 9:30 a.m. Sundays. Its daily 7 a.m. prayer line is going strong too, Micheline McFarland said.
“It’s always been about unity, and I believe God orders our steps,” she said. The church is showing up, especially when things are tough. It’s not for nothing, McFarland said, that the church’s website is liftaltadena.org.
She said while she’s still in shock, she is also trusting God and others to go the hard way together.
That camaraderie is inspiring, agreed Amara Ononiwu, acting director of fire aid and relief for the Clergy Community Coalition. Ononiwu, who is part of the pastoral team at Cathedral Church in Los Angeles, said one of the top priorities is finding housing for all the displaced.
“This is just one of many instances I’ve seen of people coming together,” Ononiwu said. “This is when you’ll see faith rise and do what we’re meant to do, which is love our neighbor.”