As hundreds of thousands of Californians grieve the loss of their homes and communities in the face of record-breaking wildfires this week, countless have shown up to help.
Officials report that an estimated 10,000 structures and more than 35,000 acres have been in the Palisades and Eaton fires, with over 180,000 forced to evacuate in recent days.
Aid agencies and nonprofits have stepped in to provide food, temporary shelter, and other essentials, but for many who have lost everything, the rebuilding process begins immediately.
Seconds Market, a secondhand clothing organization based in Los Angeles, normally buys gently used clothes from locals and hosts pop-up sales in the LA area for secondhand shoppers.
But in the wake of this devastation, Seconds Market decided to use its platform to connect Californians in need with clothing donors from across the country.
“Have spare clothes lying around? A Poshmark or Depop pile? We’ll connect you with someone who needs them,” the group shared on Instagram on Wednesday.
“Wearing secondhand is hot, but donating to your community is hotter.”
Their post directs followers to a sign-up link where people can request support or volunteer to donate items. Folks are then paired up, based on clothing size, age, and gender to ensure that people get items that are appropriate for them.
Over the course of 48 hours, 20,000 donors had signed up, according to the Seconds Market Instagram page.
Iluka, the founder of Seconds Market, shared that the match program is different from a donation drop-off, helping people get their needs met by having items shipped directly to them, rather than using the labor required to sort through donated items.
That said, she shared in an Instagram story that she was hoping to set up a free “store” so that fire victims could shop for donated items in the coming days and weeks, as well.
“This match initiative was a way for me to connect friends who wanted to help LA victims directly. Helping one person would’ve been a win in my book,” Iluka wrote in a statement.
“Since ‘launch’ we’ve had 20,000 (and counting) of you from across the U.S. sign up to donate — directly from your closets — wardrobe to wardrobe.”
Donors are responsible for the cost of packaging and shipping items after being connected with someone in need — and donations are not limited to clothing, but rather anything they can offer their “match.”
Experts suggest that major influxes of donations can be overwhelming to folks immediately working to rebuild their lives, though anecdotal evidence from others who have survived house fires suggests that it helps to be given something right away instead of having to go shopping amid recovery.
It’s that immediate need Iluka hopes to fill with Seconds Market.
She wrote on Instagram: “[This is] giving 20,000 people the opportunity to have one less thing to worry about when they wake up today.”
