


A few miles from the rubble left behind by the Eaton fire, a Los Angeles art studio grew densely packed over the weekend with the supplies a teenage girl might need to start over.
Sports bras and graphic T-shirts dangled from hangers. Converse sneakers were arrayed by size on the concrete floor. Clear plastic bins overflowed with deodorant, hair products and pastel pimple patches.
All of the items collected in the airy warehouse in the Boyle Heights neighborhood were free to teenagers whose homes had been incinerated in the city’s devastating wildfires.
While many relief efforts for victims of the fires have focused on more acute needs like shelter and food, Avery Colvert, an eighth grader in Pasadena, started a donation drive called Altadena Girls last week with a slightly less obvious remit. She wanted to offer young women essentials they had lost, plus some of the everyday luxuries that might help restore a touch of normalcy to their lives.
Cristina Soltero spent more than two hours on Monday browsing with her 13-year-old niece, Mila, whose home in Altadena had been reduced to ash by the Eaton fire. The pajamas Mila had been wearing when her family evacuated were the only clothing she had left. Her budding record collection was destroyed.
“It really just demolished her spirit,” said Ms. Soltero, 41, a nurse.
While her parents searched for housing, Mila filled two Ikea bags with socks, hair ties and a Brandy Melville cardigan. She lit up when she discovered a dusty pink Stanley cup similar to the one she had left behind, her aunt said.