Mimi Brown Sacrificed Christmas Gifts For LA Wildfire Evacuees

Source: Mimi Jones / Photo Credit: Whit PR

Days after Mimi Brown snuggled beneath a Christmas tree with her son and sister in Virginia, her Los Angeles neighborhood was surrounded by the wildfire flames. 

15 years of living in Los Angeles left Brown familiar with how the Santa Ana winds dominate the landscape. There was no electricity but she was used to that. “I was thinking, okay, that’s cool. That’s fine. You know? We can deal with that. We’ve had high winds, where power goes in and out,” she told HelloBeautiful. 

She had been through multiple versions of “fire season,” working as a journalist in the area. “I’ve covered the aftermath. I’ve seen them.”

Soon, it would be clear this was different. She was about to go from reporting on the story to living inside of it. 

Inching Towards Chaos 

Brown gasped in horror as she watched the Sunset fire, one of five ravaging the area, burn on steps from her son Landan Brown’s former school on Laurel Canyon. The fire had come closer than ever to shattering their world. 

“When that sunset fire started, we got kind of nervous,” she said. They hadn’t even unpacked their luggage from the holidays, and now it was time to gather a go bag. “We were starting to pack, and then all of a sudden, a neighbor called me and said there was a fire at the end of our block, and so we didn’t even finish packing. We grabbed a few things.”

They left the rest of the items they had accumulated over the seven years they lived in their house. “I don’t even think I took a change of clothes,” Brown continued. She snatched her computer and passports for her and her child, vlogging the experience. 

“You could look to the left, and you could see the fire,” she said. “It was the craziest, most scariest thing I had ever experienced.” Brown and her son sought shelter with a relative, and soon, the flames caught up with them.“There has never been a time where we just had no place to go. We didn’t know where to go. We didn’t know what to do. It felt like no place was safe,” she explained.

Stepping It Up 

Brown and her son returned to their home in the San Fernando Valley, grateful that it was still standing. The neighborhood was nearly unrecognizable. She waited to find out if she had a home to return to. She wanted to help those who were impacted more directly after learning she did. “There’s something different when it’s in your own backyard. There’s something that hits you when everyone you know, people you interact with on a daily [basis], have lost their homes,” Brown continued. “It’s a very, very different scenario.” 

It was there they saw more images of devastation in the historically Black neighborhood of Altadena, which motivated them to help. “I think the best way to get out of your own misery is to go help someone else,” said Brown. They went to help with organizing donations. 

After seeing the Black people devastated by the Eton fire and hearing their stories, she thought about what would make her feel cozy in a crisis. 

People donated food, diapers, and other items, but there were categories left out. 

Thinking It Out 

“I went in my closet. I cleared out some of my Ugg boots,” she said. She gathered some of the brand-new jackets she received for Christmas, and she didn’t stop there. Her son followed in her footsteps. Several days without his possessions put things in perspective for the pre-teen. The family may have been temporarily displaced, but it had a permanent impact. 

“He went, he packed toys, he packed brand new shoes that he got,” said Brown with pride. Her son gathered toiletries as well. “He got his brush, his soap, all the things that he wished that he probably would have taken for himself,” explained Brown. 

Restoring Beauty

The family keeps new extras on hand.  “He had plenty of hair brushes, Brown continued. These were brushes designed to work on natural hair that many a Black boy keeps on their nightstands. “We gave some of the ones that are hard on one side and soft on the other.” 

She stacked up bottles of curl lotions and droppers of growth oil, remembering how it felt not to have any hair products while she was away from home. She knew from experience that “people didn’t grab hygiene products” while fleeing to safety.

The giving started feeling so good they kept going until they stumbled across some of their unpacked luggage from the holiday trip they had taken before the fires took over their lives. It didn’t matter if it was a stocking stuffer or a big ticket item. They were giving it up. 

“We had our Christmas gifts, and we went right back into that suitcase, we started giving stuff away,” said Brown. She was touched by her son’s generosity. “He had an Xbox. He had never even used it,” said Brown. 

Brown and her little boy were happy to part with their presents for the residents of Altadena. 

“We gave them to the people that needed them more than we do,” said Brown.

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Mimi Brown And Her Son Donated Their Christmas Gifts To LA Wildfire Evacuees  was originally published on ionehellobeautiful.staging.go.ione.nyc