This past year, the Voice of the Village staff had to scramble to keep up with all the happenings of our Village, our members and our community. Two stories dominated those activities: The Fire and Everything Else.

THE FIRE

In February, we scrapped our planned articles and put out a Special Eaton Fire Issue. In that issue, and over the course of the year, we continued to report on many of the ways we--both as a community and individually--responded to the trauma of the fire. Here is just a sampling of how we covered the Year of the Fire.

We described the embraces, tears and laughter at the hastily pulled together brunch when Villagers came together for the first time.
We shared about Villagers who opened their doors –literally –to fellow Villagers who were displaced. And wrote tenderly about loss, resilience, healing, the gift of giving, and hope.
We described the four remarkable Centering Sounds Concerts in Washington Park that showed that music truly has the power to heal, connect and build community.
We recounted heartwarming, and heart wrenching, first-person accounts by and about survivors and their journeys forward. And created a LA Fire blog where Villagers could share their personal stories
We wrote about Phoenix Rising and Art from the Ashes, two groups created by Villagers for sharing their emotions as they moved forward through the year.
We wrote about grant money and donations, food, water and air filter deliveries, and myriad other ways we let members know they were not going through this alone.

EVERYTHING ELSE

While the fire dominated, much more happened in and around the Village. Voice of the Village reported on many of these activities and programs—too many to list here. So, a sampling…

Small group meetings are a cornerstone to helping members connect around common interests like reading, knitting, singing, writing, hiking, researching ancestors and making art. We reported on all of these, and more.
Many members knew little about the Board of Directors. We responded with a series of articles about who is on the board and what the board does. We also introduced new additions to our amazing staff and shared Nathan’s Wolford’s story of triumph over tragedy.
We shared important information on how to do the best we can as we age. These include two articles on preventing falls, three on using technology to make our lives easier, several on transportation services (for those who can’t drive) one on renewing drivers’ licenses (for those who can).
We wrote about meaningful ways we are reaching out to Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ+ seniors in our communities and to all seniors at events like Pasadena’s Older Americans Month celebration.
Educational programs and discussions are a cornerstone at the Village. As they happened, we wrote about some of them, including Undue Influence, end-of-life planning, Prop 19, fire prevention, Braille Institute and rebuilding after the fire, plus author talks, artist talks, and poetry readings.
There’s so much more: the trip to Death Valley, the Gala, the office move, Volunteer Appreciation, IT Café, partnership with Journey House, advice to new members, organizer training... The list goes on.

We’re off on another rapid-fire year. If you have a yen for writing, please consider joining the staff. If you have story ideas, we want to hear from you.

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