Jodie Vella-Gregory didn’t expect the weekend of Jan. 11-12 to go the way it did. Like most of the Southern California racing community, Santa Anita Park‘s vice president of industry relations had originally looked forward to celebrating the California Cup with several California-bred stakes Jan. 11.

But earlier in the week, fires erupted in Los Angeles County, upending the lives of people within and outside of the racing industry. Vella-Gregory and others in Santa Anita management began implementing disaster-preparedness plans, and the track ultimately provided much of its parking lot as a staging area for Southern California Edison and a large donation pop-up. Instead of their usual duties on a big-stakes weekend, Vella-Gregory and several Santa Anita employees served free food to people coming into the donation area: backstretch workers, even firefighters.

“When a crisis happens, it’s really amazing to see a community come together,” Vella-Gregory said. “I think the racing community shows time and time again that it’s here to step up as needed.”

Santa Anita canceled its Saturday, Jan. 12 card that morning, ultimately rescheduling the Cal Cup stakes for Jan. 18. By that time, Santa Anita’s food and beverage department was preparing much of the food scheduled to be served at the track that day. Rick Bakker, Santa Anita’s associate director of hospitality, immediately met with his team to see how they could pivot and help the community. They began by erecting a tent in the parking lot.

“By 11-11:30 a.m. we started serving,” Bakker said. “We have an early team in the kitchen that roasts all the meats for our carving stands. We roast those meats at 4 a.m. So by the time we made the decision (to cancel the card), the meats were almost ready. We made sandwiches, wrapped them, and brought them out.”

They not only fed fire victims lining up to receive donations, they took food to the National Guard at the Rose Bowl and the Sierra Madre Fire Station. Later in the day, they added hamburgers, salads, and other meals; some even donated by other people.

“On Sunday we got a donation of 150 pulled chicken sandwiches,” Bakker said. “They asked if we could hand them out since we already had a stand there. People from Grubhub sent us pizzas. We got a stack of Little Caesar’s pizzas at some point. We got burritos. It was really a community coming together.”

Sometimes things appeared as if by magic, such as when they looked in a cooler to see a stack of individual cheesecakes.

In addition to feeding fire victims and first responders, Santa Anita organized free meals for backstretch workers, about 300 people both Jan. 11 and Jan. 12.

“It’s been so emotional and heartbreaking to see friends, colleagues, and the community around us lose things just so quickly,” said Vella-Gregory.

Vella-Gregory lives in Pasadena. The evening that the Eaton fire broke out in Altadena Jan. 7, she went to dinner at a local restaurant with several racetrack friends. Within 10 minutes, some of them had to leave to evacuate their home and the restaurant had to close.

Vella-Gregory returned to her own home, where she discovered that she was on the border between the voluntary and mandatory evacuation zones.

“My eyes were burning in my apartment,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’m leaving.’ “

Fortunately, her apartment was fine and she was ultimately able to return without incident.

Santa Anita was far enough southeast of the fire that it didn’t need to be evacuated. But Vella-Gregory said management had a plan in place to evacuate all people and horses if necessary.

“We said we would happily pay for their shipping if anyone wanted to evacuate their horses, and a couple of trainers took us up on that,” Vella-Gregory said. “We talked to Los Alamitos, San Luis Rey, and Del Mar.”

She said they also proactively filled water tankers so that the horses would have water in case it was determined that the fires had contaminated the local water supply. That ultimately didn’t happen, unlike in some neighborhoods, where people were advised to boil water for several days.

Santa Anita employees stepped up to volunteer at the donation center, and Vella-Gregory said that management told them they would be paid for those days.

“We’ve had people who work at Santa Anita affected, who lost homes or they still can’t get back in because services haven’t been brought back on in their areas,” Vella-Gregory said. “We’re reaching out to them to see how we can best assist. Santa Anita gave them some funds to help them initially.”

The pop-up donation center was to remain in the parking lot through Jan. 17.

“We are working with the Foothill Unity Center, which we work with year-round anyway,” Vella-Gregory said. “We’re going to send items there after Friday.”

Horse owner Craig Bernick reached out to Santa Anita to help through CC’s Wish List in Chicago, a charitable organization administered under the Lavin Family Foundation. Vella-Gregory said that organization is sending six pallets of donations.

The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation also will be helping those who work at Santa Anita affected by the fires, backstretch workers and front side alike. Executive director Shannon Kelly said Safety Net Foundation will work closely with Santa Anita, California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation, and the chaplaincy in managing requests and can take directed donations for those who want to support efforts.

Santa Anita has put a direct link on its website that lists various ways people can help. Charities linked include the California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation, Foothill Unity Center, Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, Eaton Fire Relief and Recovery Fund, Pasadena Humane Society, and Hansen Dam Horse Park.