Following the Eaton fire, which began on January 7 and took 24 days to fully contain, the Westridge community has come together to support impacted families through the Westridge Community Relief Fund. Over five Westridge faculty members and nine families have reported losing their homes to the Eaton fire, and nearly 100 Westridge students were forced to leave their homes under mandatory evacuation. However, unlike the individually created GoFundMe fundraisers that allow donors to provide direct financial support for housing, groceries, and other living expenses, the relief fund is an institutional effort that focuses on school-related expenses such as tuition aid, mental health support, and campus recovery efforts.

Director of Advancement Ms. Sian Leong Adams ’98, who is overseeing the fundraising efforts, started planning the fund a few days after the fire began. “We wanted to have a mechanism that would be a way for people to support the Westridge community. Maybe they didn’t know any of the immediately impacted families but wanted to be able to support Westridge and know it was going to go to those people,” she said.

According to an email update from Head of School Ms. Andrea Kassar and Ms. Adams on March 2, the fund has raised over $450,000, including a $10,000 contribution from the Westridge Parent Association (WPA). While portions of the fund have already been allocated towards cleaning the campus, mental health support, and replacing alumni mementos, such as yearbooks, diplomas, or class rings, tuition assistance remains the highest priority.

For some students, the fund has been a great resource. Willa E.-B. ’28, whose family lost their home in the fire, applied for tuition assistance. “I feel like the relief fund definitely helped and I am grateful for it,” said Willa.

Sydney S. ‘25, who was temporarily displaced by the fires but did not require financial assistance, appreciated having an official source to share with her extended family, who had asked for ways to help.

“I haven’t utilized the fund, but I was pleased to see where it was going and how it was helping people. It was reassuring to see an update and I hope the Westridge Weekly continues to include and address the fund and its updates,” she said.

As a nonprofit, Westridge cannot directly distribute cash relief. The fund’s primary goal is to ease the financial burden of affected families through school-related support. “We had to focus on what we could do, which was to help people with tuition and at least ease that financial burden and keep girls in school. Keeping the community healthy, safe, and intact was the number one priority,” Ms. Adams said. 

While the fund has already provided assistance to several families, Westridge plans to continue fundraising efforts. At the recent Alumnae Weekend on March 8 and 9, the Advancement Office dedicated time to securing additional donations and recognizing current donors with corsages designed by the students in the 3D Design I and II classes. 

The relief fund is still open for contributions, and community members can continue requesting relief with no set deadline. “The fire is going to have a domino effect,” Ms. Ross added. “So long as the fund continues to have funds available, we will continue to make [distributions] as long as we can.”