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Malin Smith

@malinsmithh

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“This basketball court is such a big change from when I first got here. It gives me a positive vibe.” ❤️
Sometimes kids say it better than we ever could.
After losing their campus in the Eaton fire, the students of Rosebud Academy were displaced into a new school environment—one they never chose, during a chapter of their lives already defined by so much change.
So when a child tells us that a basketball court feels different now—that it makes him feel positive—we hear something much bigger than a comment about paint.
We hear why this work matters.
Because recovery isn’t only about replacing what was lost. It’s about restoring the places where kids get to be kids. Where they can run, play, laugh, connect, and begin creating new memories in a place that feels like theirs.
A basketball court can be just a basketball court.
Or it can be color where there was gray.
Joy where there was disruption.
A place to play after so much was taken away.
This is what we mean when we say Recovery Reimagined. ❤️
#24la #firerelief #communityrestoration #beautifcation #color taken in Pasadena, California by @malinsmithh

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24 days ago

After Rosebud Academy lost its campus in the fires, its students were displaced to another school. For nearly one-third of Rosebud’s students, the loss extended beyond their school—their families lost their homes, too.

In a matter of days, so much of what once felt familiar was gone.

As part of 24LA’s Community Renewal Initiative, our team donated and completed a campus revitalization at their campus, transforming gray concrete and blank walls with playground and wall murals and a newly painted soccer court designed to bring color, play, and a greater sense of belonging back into their everyday environment.

Afterward, one Rosebud student described the change simply:

“Everything used to be just gray, and now it’s all colorful.”

Then he said something we haven’t stopped thinking about.

“It actually became a soccer field. So now we’re able to actually play inside the lines instead of just hitting it against those two bars.”

Research tells us that the environments children learn and play in matter. School design—including color, visual stimulation, and a child’s sense of ownership within a space—has been linked to learning, well-being, and how children experience their surroundings.

And after disaster, when so much of what is familiar has been taken away, restoring spaces for play, expression, connection, and belonging matters even more.

This is why we believe recovery cannot end when the immediate emergency does.

Sometimes rebuilding means walls and roofs.

And sometimes it means helping a child feel like a place is theirs again.

A soccer field.
A playground.
A wall filled with color.
A little bit of childhood returned.

This is what the life-saving tools of creativity and the arts can look like. ❤️ taken in Altadena, CA by @malinsmithh

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a month ago

There is something incredibly powerful about creating beauty in a place that has endured so much.
When the Eaton Fire destroyed Rosebud Academy’s campus, their students and staff lost more than classrooms. They lost the familiar spaces where they learned, played, gathered, and grew together. While Rosebud rebuilds, they are calling a temporary campus home — and we wanted that temporary home to feel like theirs.
As 24LA moves into our next chapter of disaster relief and recovery, beautification has become an important part of how we think about healing. Relief is about meeting immediate needs, but recovery is also about restoring joy, dignity, belonging, and a sense of home.
So we came together and filled Rosebud with color. We transformed playgrounds, painted murals and games, refreshed gathering spaces, brought life back into planters, and created little moments of wonder throughout the campus, all for the kids and educators who have already carried so much.
More than 50 volunteers from our community and beyond showed up to make it happen. We painted through 90°+ heat under shade tents, worked late into the night, came back the next morning, and kept going until it was done.
Every brushstroke was an act of love.
We know paint cannot replace what was lost. But we hope walking onto a campus made especially for them reminds every Rosebud student and staff member that their community sees them, believes in them, and is still here.
This is what rebuilding can look like, too. 🌹
Together, for love, always.
24LA taken in Pasadena, California by @malinsmithh

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9 months ago

We’re here, growing, expanding, and continuing to show up for our community.

Our new space at 5760 West Jefferson Blvd, Los Angeles 90016 (deep gratitude to @thehaydentract for this beautiful home!) now operates as a community hub — a place where we host community events, offer mental health resources, run our food bank program, and gather in support of one another.

We also operate bi-weekly as a free-shop donation center for fire survivors and community members in need. To date, we’ve supported over 9,000 Angelenos and distributed more than $2.7 million in in-kind donations — and we’re not slowing down.

The road to recovery is long, as every survivor knows, and the need remains very real.
To keep this work going, we’re calling in:
✨ Volunteers
✨ Monetary support
✨ In-kind donations
✨Community Partners

All links are in our bio. Every share, every hour, every dollar truly makes a difference.
Thank you for continuing to stand with us. 💌

#24LA #TogetherForLoveAlways #EatonFire #PalisadesFire #altadenastrong #SoCalRelief #LAFireRelief #CommunityCare #DisasterRelief #MutualAidLA #WildfireRecovery #LAstrong #CaliforniaWildfires #VolunteerLA #SupportSurvivors #Altadena taken in Culver City by @malinsmithh

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a year ago

Dm or email info@24la.org
New or like new, clean condition only please ♥️ taken in Culver City, California by @malinsmithh

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a year ago

by @malinsmithh

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a year ago

You don’t plan for something like this. You simply feel the weight of your community in crisis and know you have to act. Two days after the fires began, we opened a donation hub at Malin’s dad’s bar, The Three Clubs, not knowing what it would become. We had no plan or real system, just a deep need to help. We sorted and organized donations by hand and sent out fleets of cars to larger donation hubs. With every day and every challenge, we adapted and grew.
When Citizen News Events offered us a bigger space, we expanded. When Nova’s ‘Pair and Care’ program joined us, we streamlined and customized care packages.. And now, in a donated warehouse in Culver City, (thanks to Hackman Capital!) we’ve built a foundation that will allow us to keep up with the growing demand for as long as needed.
In two months, we’ve helped over 5000 individuals and built something far more meaningful than we ever imagined. What keeps us going is not just the work itself, but the stories we’ve heard, the people we’ve met, and the lives we’ve had the privilege of touching. When you’ve seen this level of resilience and unity firsthand, you understand exactly why we’re still here.
Rebuilding is not linear. It’s layered and personal, and every individual and family we serve is walking through their own phase of rebuilding.
None of this would have been possible without the strength and dedication of our community.. In the face of devastation, people from all corners of Los Angeles have come together to support one another — volunteering time, resources, and compassion. The heart of Los Angeles beats through its people, and we are endlessly inspired by the generosity and love we’ve witnessed.
This journey has been one of the most beautiful and rewarding experiences of our lives, made even more special by doing it together.
Thank you thank you thank you.
24LA! Together, for love, always.

#Lafirerelief #donationcenter #lafirerelief #lafd #losangeles #community #24la #lafires #pairandcare #love #always taken in Los Angeles, California by @malinsmithh

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2 years ago

If you need help or want to help, please use the links in our bio or email 24laproject@gmail.com 💌 by @malinsmithh

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2 years ago

memememe🎰🎰🎰 by @malinsmithh

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2 years ago

by @malinsmithh

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2 years ago

The other half of my heart! God I love you! Happy Birthday bebesittoo 💌🫀🌹 by @malinsmithh

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2 years ago