What started with a food truck guy, a street vendor, and a self-described “food enthusiast,” all wanting to provide food to Los Angeles County wildfire victims, has grown into a massive effort to collect donations and distribute them to those in need. It began at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., and has now moved to Santa Anita Park‘s parking lot.
Thousands of people are pouring into the racetrack, some bringing items to donate and others lining up for a chance to pick up needed supplies—all provided for free. The wildfires that have broken out across Los Angeles County are still raging, with the Eaton Fire closest to Santa Anita, but not threatening the racetrack.
As more and more people lost their homes, Jerry Martinez, Juan Diaz, and Jimmy Medina wanted to help.
“This all started with wanting to give hot dogs out to the local community of Pasadena that were victims of the fire,” Martinez said. “Originally, this was only supposed to be a couple hundred hot dogs.”
(L-R): Jerry Martinez, Juan Diaz, and Jimmy Medina
All three are very active on social media, particularly TikTok, and they streamed on that platform while they gave out food.
“We never thought it would have turned into what it has today,” Martinez said.
Initially, the effort began in a Rose Bowl parking lot. As word spread on social media and then as traditional media picked up the story, it turned into a large pop-up spot. But soon the Rose Bowl area was needed for the National Guard.
Santa Anita was able to offer an alternative. The track was already providing space in its parking lot to Southern California Edison.
“We provided a lot of space for Southern California Edison to stage all their trucks and everything else,” said Pete Siberell, director of community service and special projects at Santa Anita. “There are 386,000 homes without power.”
Siberell said that Pasadena city officials contacted Santa Anita, explaining that they had to displace the donation pop-up from the Rose Bowl.
“The National Guard was coming in to stage at the Rose Bowl because they are manning all the evacuated cities,” Siberell said. “This is a grassroots operation, and they needed a home. It started yesterday afternoon (Jan. 10). It was like a wagon train—they were on their way. They had nowhere to go.”
Santa Anita found them a large space next to the Huntington Gate. It will be available through Jan. 15, when the track has another event scheduled. Siberell said that it will be open from 7 a.m.-11 p.m. PT every day.
The morning of Jan. 11, cars were lined up throughout the parking lot to get to the area. Some volunteers, including Shelley Weatherly of La Mirada, Calif., had taken it upon themselves to help direct cars bringing in donations.
Cars line up to get into the area where the donations are being taken in and distributed
“I was looking online to see how I could help,” Weatherly said. “My niece heard about this and said she was going to donate diapers. So I brought diapers as well and am just helping out where I can.”
Others also just showed up and jumped in to help.
“We started with two hot dog carts,” said Martinez. “They needed the Rose Bowl space for the National Guard. Santa Anita opened their doors to us, and it’s grown into something we could never have imagined. Thousands have been coming.”
Diaz said that while they are not taking any more clothes, they still need such items as water, blankets, diapers, and pet food.
Martinez, known on TikTok as @laglizzyhotdogs, and Diaz, who critiques many of the food trucks under the TikTok moniker of @rocknrollfoodie, spurred on the expansion through that social media platform. Local television stations picked up the story, but the two of them, along with street vendor Medina, have been overwhelmed at the speed with which it expanded.
“TikTok is how it all happened,” said Martinez. “Our idea was just to bring compassion and love to the people. We all streamed, and with the power of all our platforms together, we made this happen.”
Diaz explained that they have done similar outreaches to homeless communities and other places throughout Los Angeles County where they have perceived a need.
“But nothing on this scale—we didn’t expect this to happen,” Diaz said.
