Listen to this article
In January 2025, the Eaton fires in Southern California devastated over 14,000 acres of land and destroyed thousands of structures, including the home of Salvation Army church member and volunteer Georgia Law.
Despite the harrowing experience of evacuating a smoke-filled environment in the middle of the night, Georgia immediately found comfort with her church community and stayed steady in her busy volunteering schedule.
Watch to see how Georgia remains a beacon of positivity in her community.
Georgia Law: My father’s rule was if you see something needs to be done, don’t ask, just do it. I separate the food, I stock the food, I mop, I sweep—whatever they need me to do, I’ll do it.
It’s good to keep me young, you know, I’m 78. One more month I’ll be 79!
Over in the other part of the store is for the homeless, so they can come and fill their bags up and go. You know, take different stuff out of the market. It’s a joy to be here to work and help others.
The Army is my love. I came to the Army when I was 23. There was a lady here, her name was Captain Potts, and she was a single mother, she was a widow, and I came to help her. But I learned, when you volunteer [with] the Army, you get permanent jobs!
The baskets are for our rest homes. We give socks, combs, and brushes. It’s still nice for someone to go and give them something through the year. I did it ever since I’ve been in the Army really, you start, you just start, it’s a soldier thing, you know.
My joy is working with others and helping others. I’m a volunteer over at the Hope Center and the food bank. I tell the women in [the] rehab center I’m their prayer partner. I hug and kiss them every Sunday when they come and let them know I really care.
After church, I help in the kitchen. 12 o’clock, I leave and go home, cause I have an hour and half drive home—since the fire. Before that, I just lived in Altadena.
At first, it was so frightening. I heard noise next door at 4:30 in the morning, and I got up and I went to the front, and I couldn’t see nothing. It was just black with smoke and debris everywhere.
My daughter got up and she goes, “Mother, what’s going on?” I said, “Get your father up and let’s get out of here. We don’t have time to get nothing.”
Once we got out, we couldn’t go nowhere. All the cinders was in the middle of the street, going down the street, so I said, nope, we can’t go that way cause it could catch the car on fire. So, we had to wait, and we went to Brookside Park.
Nobody could go cause they closed freeway down. So, we all was sitting at Brookside Park waiting for daylight, and the calm in the air because you could not see nothing in Altadena.
The next day, around one o’clock, my grandson called me and said, granny, your house is on fire now. And by 1:30 he said it’s burned all the way down, granny. We was in that house 56 years.
This was the grandparent’s house where all the birthday parties were for grandchildren, great grandchildren. And all the family barbecues was here in the backyard. You need a place to stay you could come here. It’s gone. It’s really gone. All of it is gone.
I feel that without my community here at the church, I don’t think I would be as happy as I am now, because people went over and above to show their gratitude. My church community came to me and just overwhelmed me.
Members of the church came to me with donations to help me rebuild. People were so courteous, you know, sending us clothes and things like that, so it was really wonderful.
My corps family has really been here. Every day after the fire, the corps officers have called and prayed with us, you know, and that’s such a blessing,
I have an auntie say, I worry, you know, y’all lost everything. But I said no, not everything, not life. We didn’t lose life. When you have life, you can rebuild.
I don’t have to worry about the past. I just hold my faith to God and do what you have to do.
You know, I could sit and pity pot, but I’m not a pity pot person. You miss out on stuff if you don’t look forward, and I believe there’s greater things coming.
Do Good:
- See more videos like this in our video feed.
- See how The Salvation Army fights disaster.
Download this page as a PDF
