Continuing Support for LA Fire Relief with Long-Standing AWMH Partners & Metallica Vendors
FEBRUARY 4, 2025
Following last month’s financial grants to support wildfire relief efforts in Los Angeles, All Within My Hands is teaming up with long-standing Foundation partners and Metallica vendors to provide goods to those in need.
Based in Los Angeles, Baby2Baby is a nonprofit that provides children living in poverty across the country with diapers, clothing, and all the basic necessities that every child deserves. One of our Helping Hands honorees in 2022, we remain impressed by the organization’s commitment to critical local services, providing essential items to more than one million children across the country in homeless shelters, domestic violence programs, foster care, hospitals, and underserved schools as well as to children who have lost everything in the wake of disaster. In the wake of this particular disaster occurring in its own backyard, Baby2Baby is expanding beyond its primary focus, children, and stepping in to provide for the whole family.
We’ve learned from close-knit members of the Metallica Family who have been actively volunteering to support first responders and relief efforts that there is a huge demand for clothing, particularly for men. When we learned this, we needed to act and immediately connected with our partners at Wolverine, who stepped in to provide tactical gear and footwear (1000 shirts, 1600 pairs of pants, 600 pairs of boots). The team at Metallica HQ also jumped at the opportunity to show support, donating over 11,000 shirts, along with an additional 2,600 from Metallica merchandise distributor Merch Traffic. While not made for the occasion the way the Wolverine merchandise is, we hope the Metallica gear will serve as a reminder that the music community has the backs of all affected.
Over 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of these fires. As such, there is a dire need for a means to keep and carry the few items salvaged and received through donations. Our friends at TravelPro came forward with a gift of more than 200 suitcases in various sizes.
With this collection of items arranged and Baby2Baby volunteering its warehouse to receive and distribute, the final question became how to transport the pallets and pallets of goods without disrupting the relief systems already in place. For this, we tapped into Upstaging Inc., the vendor that has long provided trucks for Metallica tours and provides trucks and lighting for several other massive touring acts nationwide. Upstaging is also a dedicated supporter of AWMH’s Metallica Scholars Initiative. Without hesitation, Upstaging volunteered a 52’ truck and a driver, ready to hit the gas.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
Ernie Ball Los Angeles Fire Relief Fundraiser
Ernie Ball, the world's leading manufacturer of premium guitar strings and accessories, is a California-based company that has origins as a small retailer in LA County. In response to this disaster that hit so close to home, the company is hosting a Los Angeles Fire Relief Fundraiser.
Ernie Ball is partnering with its family of artists to give back in a unique way. When fans donate any amount to the LA Fire Relief Fundraiser, they are automatically entered to win prizes provided by Ernie Ball artists, including a deluxe edition of James Hetfield’s book, Messengers: The Guitars of James Hetfield, and a rare red jacket signed edition of Kirk Hammett’s 2012 Too Much Horror Business from his personal archives.
All funds raised benefit the MusiCares Fire Relief Fund and the LAFD Foundation, which are also the recipients of a $50,000 donation from Ernie Ball.
Our partners at Fandiem have created the Fan Aid LA campaign, featuring prizes up for grabs from artists including Jerry Cantrell, Pearl Jam, Duran Duran, Mariah Carey, and more, all benefiting various organizations’ fire relief efforts.
For our part, Metallica and AWMH have donated a limited-edition 2024 Helping Hands Concert & Auction poster designed by renowned artist Shepard Fairy and signed by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo! When you donate to enter this sweepstakes, your money will support previous grant recipient California Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery Fund.
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California Community Foundation
The California Community Foundation (CCF) is a 501(c)(3) focused on finding long-term, comprehensive solutions that address the vital issues concerning quality of life in Los Angeles County. Since 2003, the CCF Wildfire Recovery Fund has provided over $30 million to communities affected by disasters. CCF ensures that resources reach those most in need, leveraging partnerships with community-based organizations and government agencies while using data from CalFire and the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index to prioritize underserved communities.
For the LA County wildfires, CCF has activated its Wildfire Recovery Fund to complement immediate relief, addressing the long-term recovery needs of neighborhoods long after media attention has shifted away. The organization’s disaster and recovery efforts support an array of critical recovery services, including housing, case management, mental health, and medical care for displaced residents. It also aids in rebuilding essential infrastructure like emergency communication systems and offers financial disaster assistance, labor law education, and immigration services to low-wage workers and immigrant families.
The Pasadena Community Foundation (PCF) is a 501(c)(3) established in 1953 to address “current needs unmet and future needs unforeseen” in its community. The organization’s mission is to improve and enrich the lives of people in the greater Pasadena area through commitments to provide grants and services to strengthen community-based organizations, promote and participate in community partnerships, enable donors to meet their philanthropic goals, and serve as a leader and catalyst to build charitable funds emphasizing permanent endowments to fund grants to local organizations.
The Pasadena Community Foundation has opened the Eaton Fire Relief and Recovery Fund providing an opportunity for those who want to support immediate and longer term needs. PCF has seeded the fund with an initial $100,000.
