A well-known comedian who is heading to Vancouver for a show this week said she wants to use the opportunity to help raise money for the victims of the devastating Los Angeles fires.
Iliza Shlesinger, who has a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Friday, lives in Los Angeles and while her house has survived, she knows many people who have lost everything.
“What is heartening is seeing how quickly my city jumped into action,” Shlesinger told Global News.
“How quickly the donation centres were at capacity. How much, all of a sudden, a city that is very much tiered in terms of socioeconomic, A-list versus B-list, how quickly that all just melted away and it was just, ‘Come over, what can I do? How can we help those on the ground?’”
Shlesinger said she is proud of being an Angelino.
“In situations like this, you realize how big human hearts can be and that you really can rely on one another,” she added. “And prior to this, the most apocalyptic situation I’d been in was like an airport during the holidays where you see people at their worst.
“Sometimes it takes the worst to see us at our best.”
Shlesinger said she has heard from people working on the ground that the most useful item someone can donate is money or something that can be converted into money, like a gift card.
She said they will have a drop-off location at the show for anyone attending or even not attending the show.
“Even if you’re not attending the show and you want to drop something, you’re in the neighbourhood, great,” she said.
“We’re going to put a box or a desk at the VIP check-in and you can just leave with them and they’ll make sure it gets to me and I will make sure it gets to people that need it in Los Angeles, should you feel compelled to give something.”
Shlesinger added that she is just trying to do what she can with the platform she has.
“Every human has to take their turn helping each other,” she said.
Three-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning casting director Jackie Lind, who lives in Coquitlam and has close ties to Los Angeles, also wants to help her friends and colleagues who are dealing with the fires.
“I think the most devastating thing is, is everybody has a story,” she said.
“And you reach out and you ask your friends and colleagues, ‘Are they safe?’ They’re safe. But everybody has been impacted by this, whether it’s from the air quality or everybody knows somebody that has lost something or somebody or everything. And it was overwhelming. And the one thing that the common thread was everyone would say, whatever you’re watching on television, it’s a thousand times worse.”
With some colleagues, Lind has come up with the idea of hosting a webinar about the dos and don’ts of self-taping, which can appeal to everyone, not just actors and performers.
All the donations from the webinar and any other donations will go to World Central Kitchen, an organization working to feed firefighters, evacuees and residents in Los Angeles.
The webinar costs $30 a person and anyone can sign up or donate online.
