Latest / Money to Give / Ep. 65 Storytelling, Healing, and Community Resilience After Disaster with Kim Marshall

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Ep. 65 Storytelling, Healing, and Community Resilience After Disaster with Kim Marshall · Money to Give

0:03
Speaker 1: Disasters don't just destroy buildings, They disrupt lives, memories, and
0:08
Speaker 1: entire communities, and in the aftermath, people are left asking
0:12
Speaker 1: not only how to rebuild, but how to heal. Welcome
0:16
Speaker 1: to Money to Give with me Rick Peck, the Philanthropy Guide.
0:18
Speaker 1: With over twenty years in the nonprofit sector, I've seen
0:21
Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars transferred from donors to nonprofits.
0:25
Speaker 1: I've learned a lot along the way that I want
0:27
Speaker 1: to help convey to you, my loyal listeners. In this
0:30
Speaker 1: podcast series, we talk about one how nonprofits can most
0:33
Speaker 1: effectively showcase their mission and vision and raise as much
0:36
Speaker 1: money as possible. Two how donors and potential donors can
0:40
Speaker 1: make the greatest impact possible in the world, and three
0:43
Speaker 1: how professional advisors, including philanthropic advisors, can offer the most
0:47
Speaker 1: up to date information and services to their clients. So
0:50
Speaker 1: join us here each episode for more of that giving feeling.
0:53
Speaker 1: In today's episode, I'm joined by Kim Marshall, a communications
0:57
Speaker 1: strategist and podcast host who survived the devastating Los Angeles
1:02
Speaker 1: wildfires and turned that experience into action. Kim shares her
1:06
Speaker 1: harrowing escape the long road of recovery that follows climate disasters,
1:11
Speaker 1: and my storytelling plays a critical role in healing, preparedness,
1:15
Speaker 1: and community resilience. This is a powerful conversation about hope,
1:20
Speaker 1: philanthropy and how listening itself can be an act of generosity.
1:25
Speaker 2: Let's begin, So, Kim, let's talk about January seventh. Take
1:32
Speaker 2: us back. Tell me about your story of the escape.
1:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll tell you. It's almost ten months ago today,
1:39
Speaker 3: and it's hard to imagine. I had just gotten home
1:42
Speaker 3: from San Diego the night before, and I had to
1:44
Speaker 3: carry on packed, and I knew it was going to
1:46
Speaker 3: be a red flag day. We live down a canyon,
1:49
Speaker 3: or used to live down a canyon, and I had
1:52
Speaker 3: a habit of every time there was any fire, which was,
1:54
Speaker 3: you know, three times a year, and they were usually
1:57
Speaker 3: skirmishes put out by you know, fire fighters quite quickly,
2:01
Speaker 3: but I would get out of there. It didn't it
2:04
Speaker 3: didn't matter because I knew there was one road in,
2:06
Speaker 3: one road out. So anyway, I took the dogs out,
2:08
Speaker 3: having my coffee, and I happened to look out the
2:10
Speaker 3: kitchen window and I saw what was like a locomotive
2:13
Speaker 3: of fire and smoke coming across the ridge of the mountain.
2:16
Speaker 3: I was like crap, and so I started running to
2:19
Speaker 3: pack the car and my thank god it wasn't the
2:21
Speaker 3: day before. So I put my two dogs in the car,
2:25
Speaker 3: the suitcase, some jewelry, and I thought, oh, I need
2:27
Speaker 3: some stuff, you know, dress clothes. So I ran upstairs
2:30
Speaker 3: again and as I came down, my phone blared prepared
2:34
Speaker 3: to evacuate, and I thought that is too late. And
2:38
Speaker 3: when I jumped in the car, a row of townhouses groag.
2:42
Speaker 3: It said evacuate, and I thought, now we're screwed, and
2:47
Speaker 3: it was true. I got in the car and started.
2:50
Speaker 3: It's almost three miles through a canyon and big billowing
2:53
Speaker 3: black smoke blowing up the canyon and fire started appearing
2:58
Speaker 3: on both sides of the cliffs. And as I got
3:00
Speaker 3: to the bottom there's a little strip mall and the
3:05
Speaker 3: logger jam of traffic was just stupid. I could not
3:09
Speaker 3: believe it. And I looked at the guy beside me
3:12
Speaker 3: and I go, should we pull over? After about ten
3:15
Speaker 3: minutes of sitting there, he goes, I think, so I'll
3:18
Speaker 3: let you in. So I pull over in front of
3:21
Speaker 3: a I think it's a Christian school or something, and
3:23
Speaker 3: I thought in my head do I leave the keys
3:26
Speaker 3: in do I leave the car oper? So I left
3:28
Speaker 3: the car open. I'd just gone shopping. The trunk was full.
3:31
Speaker 3: I get my dog's, my roller bag, my purse, and
3:33
Speaker 3: I start walking to my girlfriend's apartment, which I have
3:36
Speaker 3: often gone to because it's right facing the ocean and
3:39
Speaker 3: it's within walking distance down the hill. And I get there,
3:43
Speaker 3: I knew how to get in. She wasn't home, and
3:45
Speaker 3: I go to sit on the patio, which looks at
3:47
Speaker 3: the ocean, and I thought, it never comes here whatever.
3:50
Speaker 3: I look up and the apartment building across the street
3:53
Speaker 3: is on fire, the roof and I thought, ah, So
3:57
Speaker 3: I get out and the smoke and blowing and everything,
3:59
Speaker 3: and the hallway was filled with neighbors going are you
4:02
Speaker 3: leaving too?
4:03
Speaker 1: So?
4:03
Speaker 3: Where do I go now? So I go across the
4:04
Speaker 3: street to this big parking lot for a Gladstone's restaurant
4:08
Speaker 3: wasn't open, but there were TV stations, you know, vans
4:12
Speaker 3: there staging and ABC seven said can I interview you?
4:16
Speaker 3: And I said yeah, if I can hide out in
4:18
Speaker 3: your van afterwards, because I just didn't know where to go.
4:20
Speaker 3: My car was up the hill. Everyone's texting me, how
4:23
Speaker 3: do I get you? Whatever, and I did my interview
4:25
Speaker 3: and I hit out with my dog shaking in the van,
4:28
Speaker 3: and then after half an hour, they said we've got
4:30
Speaker 3: to move. Can I come? No, you can't, So I
4:33
Speaker 3: ended up and everyone. My son was like, maybe you
4:36
Speaker 3: could walk back up. It looks clear. He's in New York.
4:38
Speaker 3: He's watching TV and YouTube, and I said, I don't know.
4:43
Speaker 3: I go to the gas station. I'm sitting in there
4:45
Speaker 3: on the floor trying to figure out asking people for
4:47
Speaker 3: a ride, and up walks a woman looks like a
4:51
Speaker 3: cowgirl with a yellow Fema hat on, and she said,
4:54
Speaker 3: do you want me to take you and your dog's
4:56
Speaker 3: to Santa Monica? And I said I think I should
4:59
Speaker 3: go get my car and I showed her where it
5:01
Speaker 3: was and she said, you can't go there, ma'am, because
5:03
Speaker 3: there's two schools on fire between here and there. So
5:08
Speaker 3: she and I walked it down pch about a quarter
5:11
Speaker 3: of a mile. There was a bush on fire beside us,
5:13
Speaker 3: and I was like, ah. She said, it's okay, it's okay,
5:16
Speaker 3: look ahead, let's keep going, and she drove me to
5:19
Speaker 3: our church and I was rescued there. But talk about crazy.
5:24
Speaker 2: Wow and how much time are we talking about between
5:28
Speaker 2: when you first were alerted to the smoke to what
5:31
Speaker 2: you just described was just like.
5:34
Speaker 3: Fourt to five hours four five hours wow. Still, so
5:36
Speaker 3: one thing she said was if you can please wash
5:40
Speaker 3: your dogs because the wind and the smoke it looked
5:44
Speaker 3: like Armageddin. The sun was covered because it started at
5:47
Speaker 3: ten thirty. I got in the car about ten to eleven,
5:50
Speaker 3: and you know we didn't get picked up. Well, it
5:54
Speaker 3: was at least four to five hours, so we were covered,
5:57
Speaker 3: and we went my girlfriend picked me up. We went
5:58
Speaker 3: straight to pet cut the dogs. And then you're just
6:02
Speaker 3: what how do you thank someone that saved your life? Right?
6:05
Speaker 3: And while I was on that on PCH one of
6:10
Speaker 3: my girlfriends, who's an Emmy winning broadcaster, Giselle Fernandez, kept
6:13
Speaker 3: calling me and saying, how are you doing? What are
6:15
Speaker 3: you doing? Because she could see, you know, she had
6:17
Speaker 3: all the news stuff feeds. And I said, okay, I'm here,
6:21
Speaker 3: I'm posting everything on Instagram. I'm trying to tell people
6:23
Speaker 3: how I am because my phone was blowing up. And
6:25
Speaker 3: she goes, Kim start a podcast about this, call it
6:29
Speaker 3: Palisades Strong, and she knew I did podcast, so I thought, hmmm,
6:34
Speaker 3: So two weeks later, we.
6:35
Speaker 2: Did, Wow, that's amazing, and so let's talk about that.
6:40
Speaker 2: It's hashtag La Rising is your podcast, but it feels
6:44
Speaker 2: like it's part of something obviously incredibly personal. So just
6:48
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about that.
6:50
Speaker 3: Well, it's stories of healing, help and hope. And I
6:54
Speaker 3: thought long and hard. I've worked in strategy, branding and
6:57
Speaker 3: public relations my whole career, mostly for val hospitality, but
7:01
Speaker 3: really wellness, and I thought, I'm anything but well, and
7:05
Speaker 3: all my friends watching, you know, I've lived in that
7:08
Speaker 3: community thirty years and it melted, it burned down, and
7:13
Speaker 3: so many of our friends. Our house is still standing,
7:16
Speaker 3: but you know, it turns into a toxic waste dump
7:19
Speaker 3: because you think about it, it's Tesla's, it's washer dryers,
7:22
Speaker 3: it's TVs, it's paint cans, it's everything melting, incinerating in
7:28
Speaker 3: two thousand degrees fire being blown one hundred mile an
7:32
Speaker 3: hour by hurricane force winds. You know, people like to blame,
7:36
Speaker 3: but you can line up one hundred firefighters with all
7:39
Speaker 3: the water in the world, but if the winds one
7:41
Speaker 3: hundred miles an hour, they're going to fall over and
7:43
Speaker 3: no fire hydrant system, it's they're one hundred years old
7:47
Speaker 3: was meant, you know, they're meant for a house or
7:49
Speaker 3: a block or maybe a factory, but not an entire
7:53
Speaker 3: city going down, right, So people were hurting, and I
7:57
Speaker 3: kept thinking, in my wellness, you know, exposure, what do
8:01
Speaker 3: people need right now? And you can research it. Medical
8:06
Speaker 3: studies show that storytelling heals when you share what you've
8:09
Speaker 3: been through, When you can hug someone else and find
8:12
Speaker 3: out you're not crazy for having all these feelings, you know,
8:16
Speaker 3: it really does help. So that's why I thought this
8:19
Speaker 3: was really it's esoteric, Rick, you know, you think, oh,
8:23
Speaker 3: let me get funding to tell a story. You think,
8:25
Speaker 3: come on, there's people that don't have food, don't have
8:27
Speaker 3: a house. But this is not going to be over
8:31
Speaker 3: in a year.
8:33
Speaker 2: Right, Oh for sure? And back to the stories. I mean,
8:35
Speaker 2: people need, like you said, they need to know they're
8:38
Speaker 2: not alone. And the multiple layers of the story, the
8:41
Speaker 2: different perspectives of a shared experience around something that's so
8:46
Speaker 2: traumatic they'll never forget it. As you say, many people
8:49
Speaker 2: barely made it out with their lives and they're trying
8:53
Speaker 2: to figure out how to do something that in their
8:55
Speaker 2: minds is unprecedented. So the storytelling is just about helping
8:59
Speaker 2: people kind of get back on their feet right right.
9:02
Speaker 3: And let's face it, La is such a special place.
9:06
Speaker 3: You know. You can criticize it all you want, but
9:08
Speaker 3: it is a hub of creativity and dreaming, right La
9:12
Speaker 3: La Land whatever. And when you think about how it
9:16
Speaker 3: was stabbed in the heart by that fire, I mean
9:18
Speaker 3: the Palisades Is I used to say, like Mayberry RFD.
9:22
Speaker 3: You know, it was this dreamy little Americana town and
9:27
Speaker 3: it was you know, they say wealthy. They share a
9:29
Speaker 3: lot of people in the houses cost a lot, and
9:31
Speaker 3: there was ocean views and hiking trails right out my
9:34
Speaker 3: door and just a community feel like a Fourth of
9:38
Speaker 3: July parade every every year I did the five k
9:42
Speaker 3: for that, a turkey trot on thanks every year we
9:46
Speaker 3: did it, and so many like I don't know. The
9:50
Speaker 3: rec Center downtown was such a memory for people. It
9:54
Speaker 3: isn't the hoity toity really, if you would go and
9:57
Speaker 3: see the kinds of people, just to strike of Americana
10:00
Speaker 3: that make it up. Okay, put that and then beside
10:04
Speaker 3: it is all to Dina. You know. The eaton fire, Now,
10:07
Speaker 3: that was a whole nother side of La. The complexion
10:10
Speaker 3: completely changed its artists, kind of hippie, a lot of
10:15
Speaker 3: legacy black home owners. One of the original places that
10:18
Speaker 3: black families weren't redlined for mortgages, so you know, you
10:22
Speaker 3: passed on. You got the house from your grandparents, so
10:25
Speaker 3: many seniors and such a special magical place below a
10:31
Speaker 3: mountain there. So that's stabbing the city in two places,
10:35
Speaker 3: you know, like little arrows to the heart. Now in travel,
10:38
Speaker 3: I was interviewed or I was talking to someone from
10:41
Speaker 3: the tourism office and they said, you know, we've been
10:42
Speaker 3: battling this. People think most of the city burned down,
10:47
Speaker 3: when really it was only two percent. I said, well,
10:50
Speaker 3: I'm sorry that I happened to be from the one
10:52
Speaker 3: percent of the two percent. Yeah, right, these are real
10:56
Speaker 3: people suffering.
10:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's and it's and I mean it captured
10:59
Speaker 2: the world's attention, and I know that the California Community Foundation,
11:03
Speaker 2: I believe at the end started receiving, well from the beginning,
11:07
Speaker 2: started receiving donations, and it ended up being over one
11:10
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars in relief funds, just because the whole
11:14
Speaker 2: world was watching and trying to figure out how they
11:16
Speaker 2: could be helpful at a time of this immense disaster
11:20
Speaker 2: and the billions and billions of dollars. I'm sure that
11:22
Speaker 2: it damaged and obviously traumatized all these people's lives.
11:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess two hundred and fifty million was raised
11:28
Speaker 3: right away by different sources, and you know, more keeps
11:31
Speaker 3: coming because this is a five to ten year project.
11:34
Speaker 3: I mean, Rick, last night, I went to a meeting
11:37
Speaker 3: in the Palais. It's at that old rec center. The
11:40
Speaker 3: new building burned down, but everything else seemed to stand.
11:42
Speaker 3: But as you walked to it from this lovely neighborhood
11:46
Speaker 3: that I have walked so many times, that was just
11:49
Speaker 3: like American that the houses were Cape cod you know,
11:53
Speaker 3: Spanish colonial, so beautiful. If they're gone, it's a lot
11:57
Speaker 3: after a lot of nothing. You can see through to
12:00
Speaker 3: the ocean. Somehow that rec center survived. Rick Cruz of
12:04
Speaker 3: the Billionaire and JJ Reddick, the coach of the Lakers
12:09
Speaker 3: are devoting time and money to rebuilding the rec center
12:12
Speaker 3: in the park as an anchor to the community. And
12:15
Speaker 3: they called a meeting to discuss it. Gensler's the architect,
12:18
Speaker 3: and Rick said, people said, maybe people won't show up
12:22
Speaker 3: for this meeting. It was standing room only. Everybody was
12:25
Speaker 3: there with their fifteen year old saying I grew up
12:28
Speaker 3: President de red bikes here, I came to the swing
12:31
Speaker 3: set here, please hurry up, please build it back. Don't
12:34
Speaker 3: make us skip a generation. This is our childhood. Ah.
12:37
Speaker 3: The tennis team was like please, I mean it was
12:41
Speaker 3: too much.
12:42
Speaker 2: Now.
12:42
Speaker 3: Think about what's going on in you know, Altadina, the
12:45
Speaker 3: same kinds of things. So these fires are a harbinger
12:51
Speaker 3: of things to come in a warming planet. And by
12:54
Speaker 3: capturing this living history, we're not just talking about the
12:57
Speaker 3: palisades here. I interviewed the mayor of Maui. That's the
12:59
Speaker 3: latest episode because look at Lahaina. One hundred and two
13:02
Speaker 3: people died because they were caught with their you know,
13:05
Speaker 3: pants down when it came to evacuation protocols. Because nobody's
13:10
Speaker 3: used to this kind.
13:11
Speaker 2: Of thing, right right. I think what it also speaks
13:14
Speaker 2: to is it reminds me back when I was working
13:17
Speaker 2: at a community foundation and I remember seeing a presentation
13:21
Speaker 2: done on stage with these different individuals talking about the
13:27
Speaker 2: fact that there was the shootings in Orlando or the
13:31
Speaker 2: floods in the South, and there were wildfires I think
13:34
Speaker 2: at the time in California happening and also other types
13:38
Speaker 2: of disasters, and they said, do we have a protocol
13:40
Speaker 2: or does your town? Does your city have a protocol
13:43
Speaker 2: for disaster relief because no one ever thinks it's going
13:46
Speaker 2: to happen to them, and so there's no formalized process
13:48
Speaker 2: of emergency, you know, sort of disbursement of resources and coordination.
13:55
Speaker 2: In the Community Foundation's case, they said a lot of
13:58
Speaker 2: the expectation was somehow they were just going to go
14:01
Speaker 2: front and center and do all this work, and they
14:03
Speaker 2: said it was just an absolute mess. So they said,
14:06
Speaker 2: we always have to go back and plan for the unexpected,
14:10
Speaker 2: know who's going to do what and when to the
14:12
Speaker 2: best of our ability. Otherwise, as you just said, sometimes
14:15
Speaker 2: people will die as a result of that lack of planning.
14:18
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I was asked to speak in an investment
14:20
Speaker 3: conference on the insurance crisis in America, so this August
14:24
Speaker 3: panel of experts and whatever, But it started with my story.
14:28
Speaker 3: And you know, the research I did showed that for
14:31
Speaker 3: every dollar invested in pre planning and preparation for disasters,
14:36
Speaker 3: you save thirteen dollars and build back costs. So this
14:40
Speaker 3: is just good business. So why should philanthropists you know,
14:46
Speaker 3: dedicate funds to this sort of thing, because as soon
14:49
Speaker 3: as you get back up and running, the more you
14:52
Speaker 3: can make the economic engine go. You can't just keep
14:55
Speaker 3: giving people grants.
14:58
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, So let's talk about that. You talk about
15:00
Speaker 2: funding it, you talk about philanthropy and your passion project.
15:03
Speaker 2: Should just talk about how you're you're trying to fund
15:06
Speaker 2: it with taking the energy that's happening ten months later
15:10
Speaker 2: and continuing to use that. Just talk a little bit
15:12
Speaker 2: about that.
15:13
Speaker 3: Well, initially I was invited, you know, because if you're
15:16
Speaker 3: a victim, you get all these emails across her computer,
15:20
Speaker 3: and I was invited to apply for a small business grant.
15:24
Speaker 3: I just did it. It was in the midst of
15:26
Speaker 3: you know, the first month or so. I just typed it,
15:28
Speaker 3: sent in whatever, and I was so surprised to see
15:31
Speaker 3: I got it. It was five thousand dollars. So that just
15:32
Speaker 3: kept us going because my business did screech to a
15:35
Speaker 3: halt because everybody knows that you're sort of homeless, right
15:38
Speaker 3: and I moved seven times, so trying to concentrate because
15:42
Speaker 3: I have two dogs and not everybody wants them, or
15:45
Speaker 3: you know, you just most people might know professionals that
15:49
Speaker 3: I've interviewed from the fires have moved between seven and
15:52
Speaker 3: eight times since these fire Isn't that weird? People don't
15:55
Speaker 3: think about it. So I thought that five thousand dollars
15:58
Speaker 3: grant and then I I didn't understand that to be
16:03
Speaker 3: to get funds from a nonprofit, you have to be
16:06
Speaker 3: a nonprofit. So I went through the vetting process of
16:09
Speaker 3: seeing what fiscal partner would I trust and align with.
16:13
Speaker 3: That took a number of months, and then I finally
16:16
Speaker 3: did it. That took time. I never did that before
16:18
Speaker 3: I learned how to do it. I was adopted as
16:21
Speaker 3: a fiscal partner of Creative Visions. They have a lot
16:24
Speaker 3: of fire nonprofits under their umbrella, so that means they
16:27
Speaker 3: take care of all the minutia of running a nonprofit.
16:30
Speaker 3: They have the board, they have all the tax ID
16:34
Speaker 3: numbers and everything. So they do that. You give them
16:37
Speaker 3: a percentage. So for this one, all you do is
16:39
Speaker 3: give a percentage for the donations you receive. I think
16:42
Speaker 3: it's six percent and that's it. You don't have to
16:46
Speaker 3: pay them monthly fee or anything. So I did that
16:49
Speaker 3: and now I've been applying for grants. I applied for
16:51
Speaker 3: the third round of funding for fire aid. I applied
16:54
Speaker 3: to Lindsay Horvas's office, and there are many more the
16:58
Speaker 3: Community Fund to apply apply to that takes at least
17:01
Speaker 3: three days every application, because you got to do it right.
17:05
Speaker 3: But really, this is a great story. Read your emails
17:09
Speaker 3: if you're in my situation. I got an email that
17:12
Speaker 3: said Google is making fifteen million dollars in loans available
17:17
Speaker 3: to small businesses affected by the fire, and they're in
17:19
Speaker 3: partnership with the Department of Economic Opportunity. I never heard
17:24
Speaker 3: of that department, but I read it carefully. It looked legit,
17:27
Speaker 3: and it said we're doing this presentation day of activations
17:32
Speaker 3: on X Day. And I thought, well, I'll go. I
17:34
Speaker 3: don't eve knew where it was, but I went and
17:36
Speaker 3: it was past Watts. I mean, I didn't even know
17:40
Speaker 3: where I was. And it looked like a little mini
17:42
Speaker 3: Google campus with free lattes and lunch and lectures on
17:46
Speaker 3: how to use AI and blah blah blah. And I
17:48
Speaker 3: was doing everything and I thought, you know, it can
17:50
Speaker 3: go to every table before you leave. So I'm at
17:53
Speaker 3: this table that said TCM Capital and I said, what
17:57
Speaker 3: do you do? And they said, we fund the loans
17:59
Speaker 3: that Google is giving out to small businesses. I said,
18:02
Speaker 3: what are the terms. They said, it's forgivable, and I said,
18:05
Speaker 3: excuse me. And so they said, you'll get a link
18:09
Speaker 3: from scanning this. Fill it out, you get a link.
18:12
Speaker 3: I thank god. I took her card. Took her card
18:14
Speaker 3: that Monday because that was our Friday. I said I
18:16
Speaker 3: didn't get the link. She said, it'll come tomorrow. Fill
18:19
Speaker 3: it out. And I said, hey, can I wait till Friday.
18:21
Speaker 3: I'm on a road trip, blah blah. She said, nope,
18:23
Speaker 3: it's first come, first serve, do it right away. So
18:26
Speaker 3: on the road trip, I sat in my hotel room
18:29
Speaker 3: from like nine pm to midnight and my roommate's like,
18:33
Speaker 3: when are you to turn the light up? But they
18:35
Speaker 3: needed all these you know, bank statements, this and that documentary.
18:38
Speaker 3: If you do anything wrong, you're rejected. So I ended
18:41
Speaker 3: up in the bathroom so she wouldn't see the light
18:44
Speaker 3: at midnight, hitting send, praying for Do you know? A
18:47
Speaker 3: week later, I had twenty one five hundred dollars in
18:49
Speaker 3: my account. Wow, from them forgivable. And it was such
18:54
Speaker 3: a miracle to pay my crew because we're professional, I mean,
18:59
Speaker 3: I don't want to put some homemade hold my mic
19:01
Speaker 3: up to my phone podcast. No. I worked for five
19:04
Speaker 3: years with the Global Wellness Institute, the Globalness Summit, doing
19:09
Speaker 3: their first ever podcasts, interviewing everybody from Deepak Chopra to
19:12
Speaker 3: Dan Butten or a Blue Zones and I am all
19:15
Speaker 3: about content and being professional. So my beautiful team, it's
19:19
Speaker 3: called Nova Media, they volunteered and did the first I
19:23
Speaker 3: don't know, ten to fifteen episodes, many of them double
19:27
Speaker 3: until we got any money, and then I was able
19:29
Speaker 3: with this grant to send them some money. So isn't
19:31
Speaker 3: that cool?
19:31
Speaker 2: That is very cool? And I think it just shows
19:33
Speaker 2: your persistence and following the lead, really kind of following
19:37
Speaker 2: the idea that some people are trying to help. You
19:40
Speaker 2: could have said skeptical and we're in an age of
19:43
Speaker 2: you know, scam artists, which you did. You did what
19:45
Speaker 2: you needed to do to kind of follow the trail
19:47
Speaker 2: and realize this was legitimate, and then you put the
19:50
Speaker 2: sweat equity into it and you got you got some
19:53
Speaker 2: you got some dollars out of it, which is great. So,
19:56
Speaker 2: as you said, we're about ten months since the fire.
20:00
Speaker 2: What have you learned from the stories you've heard from
20:03
Speaker 2: your fellow survivors?
20:05
Speaker 3: Well, let me just share just some snippets from each one.
20:08
Speaker 3: My second episode is from Ashes to Art. I interviewed
20:12
Speaker 3: a girl who was raised in Alta Dina. Her name's auDA.
20:15
Speaker 3: She's Hispanic, and they used to call her Audited Dina.
20:19
Speaker 3: And she said her working class parents just paid off
20:23
Speaker 3: their mortgage after thirty six years. That December and January seventh,
20:26
Speaker 3: the house burned down and her papa said, she's grown
20:29
Speaker 3: now and moved away. But her papa said, I forgot
20:32
Speaker 3: we're homeless because he drove home and just automatically went
20:35
Speaker 3: in front of the house and she goes, no, Poppy,
20:38
Speaker 3: you always have a home in our heart, right sweet.
20:41
Speaker 3: And then the artists couple on that same episode. We're
20:45
Speaker 3: working artists, very successful sculptors, you know, Rose Bowl, Disney whatever,
20:51
Speaker 3: And they didn't get their evacuation. It was till three
20:54
Speaker 3: in the morning, so they didn't take anything. They thought,
20:57
Speaker 3: oh well, and everything burnt down. You know the only
21:00
Speaker 3: thing is like these metal beetles or cockroaches her husband made.
21:05
Speaker 3: But you know, she said, there are always more walls
21:09
Speaker 3: to fill, yes, because we're talking about healing and hope,
21:13
Speaker 3: so we're not here to just cry we're here to
21:16
Speaker 3: get inspiration, right. And then another one is the rabbi
21:22
Speaker 3: from the Palisades. Her temple that she serves nine hundred
21:26
Speaker 3: congregants survived, but her own house burned down, and she
21:30
Speaker 3: likened it to the burning bush in the Bible. You
21:33
Speaker 3: know when Moses in the wilderness. She said, the word
21:37
Speaker 3: for burning in Hebrew means burned, but not consumed. So
21:42
Speaker 3: she said, you know, Moses went toward the bush even
21:45
Speaker 3: with flammable sheep. He was a shepherd to see what
21:47
Speaker 3: he could learn. And this fire is trying to teach
21:50
Speaker 3: us because it burned us, it did not consume us. Right.
21:55
Speaker 3: And also the thing is I interviewed an economist, a
21:58
Speaker 3: global economist from Davos, Switzerland, and he said, the number
22:02
Speaker 3: one issue facing the economic issue facing the planet is
22:06
Speaker 3: global warming. Unless we pay attention, the ripple effect of
22:11
Speaker 3: these billion, multi billion dollar disasters is going to cripple
22:15
Speaker 3: the planet and the economy. So the other thing I
22:19
Speaker 3: really love is this long time, thirty year arborous that
22:25
Speaker 3: talks about the urban canopy and saving trees after the fire.
22:28
Speaker 3: Because people like to blame trees as fire starters. He said, no,
22:33
Speaker 3: they're heroes. Really, and there's ways to treat them because
22:37
Speaker 3: there's so much like cut all the palm trees down,
22:39
Speaker 3: have five feet of blank you know, gravel around your
22:43
Speaker 3: cement block house. Now there is another way, and we
22:47
Speaker 3: need to bring attention to it. So you know, I
22:49
Speaker 3: could take we went to Malibu. People forget about the
22:52
Speaker 3: five miles of destruction of this classic iconic ocean front.
22:56
Speaker 3: It's unbelievable. And of course they shut pH down for
23:01
Speaker 3: six months and that costs that commerce, you know in
23:05
Speaker 3: this in the businesses that survived, because a lot did
23:08
Speaker 3: like I don't know, seventy million dollars in loss because
23:12
Speaker 3: nobody could get there. So, I mean, there's so many stories.
23:17
Speaker 3: So what we're trying to do is capture a living
23:19
Speaker 3: history of this and be an example to the rest
23:22
Speaker 3: of the world because if we think we're the last
23:25
Speaker 3: community that's going to go through a climate disaster, we
23:28
Speaker 3: are sadly mistaken. So Jane Goodall said, see how you
23:33
Speaker 3: can change the world every day? What can you do?
23:35
Speaker 3: And let me tell you something. And also Schankra Vidante
23:38
Speaker 3: and the I'm PR host of Hidden Brain talked about
23:42
Speaker 3: passion versus paycheck and what's the goods and bads of that.
23:46
Speaker 3: And let me tell you something. I know this is
23:48
Speaker 3: where I should be and this is what I should
23:50
Speaker 3: be doing.
23:51
Speaker 2: For sure, you're excellent at it. And who better than
23:54
Speaker 2: you who've seen it firsthand to go around and gather
23:57
Speaker 2: these stories because people willppreciate the fact that you are
24:01
Speaker 2: a fellow survivor with them, and you are passionate about
24:04
Speaker 2: continuing to build that tapestry of what this means to
24:08
Speaker 2: have been a survivor and what it means to move forward.
24:11
Speaker 2: And as you say, a lesson to the world to say,
24:13
Speaker 2: this is going to happen again. If we don't pay
24:16
Speaker 2: attention to global warming, these types of things will happen.
24:19
Speaker 2: How are we going to manage it, first of all,
24:21
Speaker 2: when the disaster happens. In second, how are we going
24:23
Speaker 2: to try to move forward and not have such things
24:27
Speaker 2: happen in the future by helping to preserve the environment
24:30
Speaker 2: and do the things that aren't necessarily destroying the environment.
24:33
Speaker 2: So why do you have faith that you think this
24:36
Speaker 2: platform will help survivors recover? Do you think it's just
24:39
Speaker 2: the continuation of building this tapestry? And what kind of
24:43
Speaker 2: evidence would you say you have so far? That it's working.
24:47
Speaker 3: Well, I just feel like the feedback, especially from the
24:50
Speaker 3: people I interview. There are so many community organizers out
24:54
Speaker 3: there doing amazing things, and I promise you they don't
24:57
Speaker 3: get money right away. This is a lot of all
24:59
Speaker 3: in this group, Eaten Fire Residents United. This one woman
25:05
Speaker 3: helped stop a nuclear plant in one of the communities
25:08
Speaker 3: she lived in, you know, years ago, and so from
25:10
Speaker 3: that strength she went forth. When she realized that no
25:14
Speaker 3: one was telling her how dangerous her still standing house
25:17
Speaker 3: was in Alta Dina, they were like, oh, it's okay,
25:19
Speaker 3: move in, just wipe the walls down. You don't even
25:21
Speaker 3: need to hire a remediator. And she's like, yeah, but
25:23
Speaker 3: how do I know it's safe. Well, there's no evidence
25:25
Speaker 3: to say it isn't safe from the house department. And
25:28
Speaker 3: she goes, well, that's because nobody accumulated has researched this.
25:32
Speaker 3: So she started a Facebook group. They all came together
25:36
Speaker 3: and it just happened. And one of the people that
25:37
Speaker 3: attended was a data research scientist. What are we talking about?
25:41
Speaker 3: So she started this group that would collect all the
25:45
Speaker 3: hygienis data from studying the homes that were still standing.
25:50
Speaker 3: And this is such a professionally done data center that
25:54
Speaker 3: she's getting a seat at the table with you know,
25:56
Speaker 3: the la Firehouse study, with Harvard usala USC everybody. She
26:01
Speaker 3: really is being taken seriously because it's data that we
26:04
Speaker 3: need that could change the course of this. So as
26:08
Speaker 3: she was talking to me, she started crying and she said,
26:13
Speaker 3: I just want to tell people you are not alone.
26:16
Speaker 3: We are here to help you. And I mean the
26:19
Speaker 3: mayor of Maui and his wife. What's the power of
26:22
Speaker 3: song and dance and healing. You know, sixty percent of
26:25
Speaker 3: kids in Lahina in that from that fire have reported
26:28
Speaker 3: that they're still depressed two years later. How do we
26:32
Speaker 3: help the children? So when the interviewees I'm talking to
26:36
Speaker 3: are bawling on the screen, I was like, somebody needs
26:39
Speaker 3: to listen to them, because the world is snippets. They're
26:43
Speaker 3: just snippets of information. Nobody has any attention span. But
26:48
Speaker 3: we give people half an hour, sometimes an hour just
26:50
Speaker 3: to share their stories. It's the first time you want
26:53
Speaker 3: to criticize mayor of baths. You want to criticize Lindsay Jrrevath,
26:57
Speaker 3: Listen to her first, Listen to what they've been trying
26:59
Speaker 3: to do. That's all I'm asking listen. And also every
27:04
Speaker 3: episode includes a tip about getting healthier. Did you know that? Well,
27:11
Speaker 3: you've seen the articles. Firefighters now are dying at twenty
27:14
Speaker 3: seven years old, thirty years old because they're not wearing
27:17
Speaker 3: masks in this terrible urban interface fire situation. Yeah, and
27:21
Speaker 3: we got to talk to a doctor. This is the
27:24
Speaker 3: only thing that really helps firefighters. Saunas. Sitting in a
27:28
Speaker 3: sauna contrast bathing hot cold, hot cold. If we can
27:31
Speaker 3: get two firefighters to do that and to do deep breathing,
27:35
Speaker 3: we've helped you know what I'm saying. So I don't care.
27:39
Speaker 3: Just listen. See how it makes you feel. See if
27:41
Speaker 3: you change the trajectory of your life because we're trying
27:44
Speaker 3: to help you.
27:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, And and the theme is so powerful. I mean,
27:48
Speaker 2: there's so many different stories to tell. Like you say,
27:52
Speaker 2: just when you think you've exhausted the certain cohort of
27:55
Speaker 2: people involved in the wildfires, whether they be first responders
27:59
Speaker 2: or some on, you find someone else. Maybe they lead
28:01
Speaker 2: you to another story and say you should hear the
28:03
Speaker 2: story of this person. And the more and more as
28:05
Speaker 2: you say that builds, the more strong that and complete
28:10
Speaker 2: narrative it is, because then others will listen to that
28:12
Speaker 2: and say, wow, Kim did a great job of curating
28:16
Speaker 2: all this amazing content. And it's basically a point in
28:20
Speaker 2: time that we can then use again to do some positive,
28:24
Speaker 2: positive work in the future as well as the healthy
28:27
Speaker 2: individuals heal today.
28:29
Speaker 3: And also it's a tonic for me, right, so instead
28:32
Speaker 3: of sitting in a corner and saying why did this happen?
28:36
Speaker 3: I can actively be involved in helping other people heal
28:39
Speaker 3: and in the process heal myself. But we want to
28:41
Speaker 3: be much more serious than just that. This is really,
28:45
Speaker 3: we hope a model for other communities. We hope they
28:48
Speaker 3: can learn if they just scan down and go, wait,
28:50
Speaker 3: what did the RABI do, What did the sportscaster do,
28:53
Speaker 3: what did the community organizer do? And how can I
28:57
Speaker 3: keep breathing through the whole thing? So you're so awesome
29:01
Speaker 3: to let me help tell this story and spread the word,
29:04
Speaker 3: and we hope people do understand that we do need
29:06
Speaker 3: funding to keep going because you know, to research it
29:10
Speaker 3: takes me at least five hours to research everybody that
29:14
Speaker 3: I interview, because I take it super seriously. I want
29:17
Speaker 3: to quote the work they've done. I want to understand
29:19
Speaker 3: where they came from. And this is really important because
29:23
Speaker 3: we don't want to be frivolous. We're not just holding
29:25
Speaker 3: the camera up on a selfie stick and saying, look,
29:27
Speaker 3: we're talking to somebody. No, they We want to honor
29:31
Speaker 3: them with understanding their story, bringing out the best of
29:34
Speaker 3: it in case they forget, and also, you know, inspiring
29:38
Speaker 3: other people to tell the same kind of stories.
29:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, you are very inspirational, Kim, and thank you for
29:43
Speaker 2: your energy and your focus and your passion about this.
29:46
Speaker 2: How would people find you and how would they find
29:48
Speaker 2: and learn more about what you're doing.
29:51
Speaker 3: It's La Risingpodcast dot org online, our instagram is La
29:57
Speaker 3: Rising Podcast. Please message us on instead email my companies
30:02
Speaker 3: Swell the Agency Kim at Swell the Agency like it's
30:05
Speaker 3: swelled to meet you. Also, I'll respond so I'm looking
30:09
Speaker 3: for feedback rate and review download we'd love to have. Also,
30:13
Speaker 3: if someone wants to share a story, please do reach
30:16
Speaker 3: out because we're all heres.
30:17
Speaker 2: Okay, that's great, and I'll just spell it out too.
30:20
Speaker 2: It's capital s apostrophe, capital w E l L the
30:25
Speaker 2: Agency in case you're getting stuck, and then again La
30:28
Speaker 2: Rising Podcast with a hashtag in front of it. So
30:31
Speaker 2: Thank you, Kim. You're a sweetheart. I'm so glad we
30:34
Speaker 2: met and I'm glad to have been on your podcast,
30:37
Speaker 2: and I'm happy to have you online. And please come
30:40
Speaker 2: back again and tell some more stories of how you're
30:44
Speaker 2: helping people heal and how you're helping you make a difference.
30:47
Speaker 3: Well, Rick, your podcast is an inspiration to me too,
30:49
Speaker 3: because man, I learned a lot and who knows it
30:52
Speaker 3: might help in fundraising for LA Rising, So thanks so much.
30:55
Speaker 2: That's right exactly. One never knows the power of communication,
30:59
Speaker 2: as you just said, right, the power of telling the story.
31:02
Speaker 2: So all right, well Kim, we'll see you next time.
31:05
Speaker 3: We'll be in touch, all right, thanks again.
31:08
Speaker 2: Thank you.
31:11
Speaker 1: That wraps up today's conversation with Kim Marshall, and it
31:14
Speaker 1: offers meaningful lessons for anyone who cares about people, place,
31:18
Speaker 1: and purpose. First, storytelling heals when people are given space
31:23
Speaker 1: to share their experiences. It helps communities process trauma and
31:27
Speaker 1: realize they are not alone. Second, preparedness is philanthropy. Investing
31:33
Speaker 1: in disaster planning and education before crisis. Strengths can save lives,
31:38
Speaker 1: resources and years of recovery. And third, purpose can emerge
31:43
Speaker 1: from pain. Kim shows how personal loss can be transformed
31:47
Speaker 1: into collective action that supports healing, resilience, and long term change.
31:53
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Money to Give. If this conversation
31:56
Speaker 1: resonated with you, please leave a review on your preferred
31:59
Speaker 1: streaming platform, share it with a friend or colleague, and
32:02
Speaker 1: most importantly, keep that giving feeling going. We are now
32:06
Speaker 1: broadcasting in thirty seven countries and growing with five hundred
32:10
Speaker 1: downloads per month and nearly ten thousand downloads to date.
32:14
Speaker 1: A reminder, this podcast is meant to be for educational
32:17
Speaker 1: purposes only. For specific advice related to your own situation,
32:21
Speaker 1: please consult an attorney, financial advisor CPA, or other type
32:25
Speaker 1: of trusted consultant. If you're looking for fresh insights on
32:28
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32:31
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Speaker 1: to my website, The Philanthropy Guide dot com. In the newsletter,
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Speaker 1: next time, let's keep making a different together.