Dear ALAN Friends:
By now you’ve undoubtedly seen the news reports about the devastating fires that are still ablaze in Southern California.
We grieve with those who have lost family members, friends or homes, not to mention many parts of their hometowns. And we have already begun working behind the scenes to support relief efforts.
We’ll be sharing more information about those efforts soon, once there is more clarity from our non-profit partners on where support is needed. So watch your inboxes, and please know that even if you aren’t seeing many requests for direct assistance right now, you’ll undoubtedly have numerous opportunities to help in the near future.
In the meantime, here are a few quick updates to keep you in the loop.
What ALAN Is Doing To Help Los Angeles Fire Survivors
Shortly after news of the fires broke, we reached out to our non-profit partners to get a handle on what types of donated logistics services and equipment they anticipate needing – and where.
At the moment, we’re told that local relief organizations have the supplies they require in the short term, because nearby communities have been incredibly generous. In fact, these organizations are already being logistically challenged by the outpouring of donations, all of which needed to be sorted, categorized and organized in order to get them ready for distribution.
Most of these organizations have little to no experience running that kind of ad hoc warehousing and transportation operation – especially under such dire circumstances – so ALAN has been especially busy providing these organizations with the just-in-time guidance they require. Along those lines, we’ll be hosting a California fires logistics call on Monday at 3:30 Eastern time for non-profit organizations. (All non-profits are welcome, so if you’re already assisting with relief efforts in the area or are planning to do so in the future, you can register at this link.)
We are also gathering and sharing key information about how the fires are affecting logistics infrastructure and resources, including information on road closures, power outages, curfews, and more. (Check out our Disaster Microsite and our Supply Chain Intelligence Center for details.) These free resources exist to help non-profits and businesses make better-informed decisions about how to keep essential supplies like food and water moving into disaster-affected areas, which is crucial at times like these, and we are honored to be able to provide it.
Finally, we are preparing to fill requests for donated logistics assistance – which is where you come in. . .
How You Can Help
If you have logistics capabilities like warehouse space, trucks, equipment, or supplies you’d be willing to donate to support fire relief efforts please offer them now. We’ll need a lot of support in the coming days, weeks and months. And the more advance information we have about available resources, the more quickly we’ll be able to fulfill requests for assistance and get survivors the help they need.
In addition, please visit our Disaster Micro-Site often. It’s where we’ll post all requests for fire relief assistance we receive – and where we already have a large number of unfilled requests that are related to other disasters. We’d be grateful if you could help us fill one or more of them.
Please also consider making a donation to support our response activities. We rely on your financial support, and your gift will allow us to continue providing the donated logistics assistance that is so critical to helping communities like Pacific Palisades, Altadena and others recover.
On a final note, please don’t try to send supplies to Southern California right now. Relief organizations and disaster survivors have no place to store or keep them – and trying to handle the wave of incoming products can turn into a major challenge at a time when they’re dealing with other priorities.
On behalf of all of us at ALAN, thank you for being part of our support system. Although the first two weeks of 2025 have already contained more than their fair share of fire and (freezing) rain, we are grateful to be working with you.
Kathy
