Hope Li: From the Torch Podcast network, this is the Chimes Weekly. I'm Hope Li reporting from Biola University. It's Friday, January 17th.
Olivia Kam: As for the GoFundMes, for one of the professors in Rosemead, her, um, goal was in like, I think about 15K. I think she's uh, at like 26,000 by now. So it' it's amazing to see how like, everyone can come together and help.
Hope Li: Later on, we'll hear more from Chimes News editor Olivia Kam About these fires and the way Biola students have responded to the local crisis. But first, here's some more about these fires in this week's headlines. For the past nine days, three fires have continued to burn in L.A. County. As of Wednesday, 25 deaths have been connected with the fires and current damages are estimated at over $200 billion. According to Accuweather. The Palisades fire, located in the Pacific Palisades, scorched over 20,000 acres since January 7 and was 19% contained as of Wednesday evening. The Eaton fire, located in Altadena, has burned over 14,000 acres and was 45% contained. The Hurst Fire spread through Sylmar burning 799 acres and was 97% contained as of Wednesday evening. The fires not only affected homeowners and families, but also students, according to the Chimes. USC canceled their new student convocation and UCLA canceled their undergraduate classes and moved their graduate classes online because of the fires. Pepperdine University in Malibu moved all its classes online until January 19th. The university sits on the front lines of the Palisades fire. Four smaller fires also cause damage to the county. The Sunset, Lidia, Kenneth and Archer fires are now 100% contained. President- elect Donald Trump will be sworn in on Monday, January 20, as the 47th president of the United States as he prepares to enter the White House. His cabinet is still being finalized. The details of his proposed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE over which he's appointed Elon Musk also remain unclear. President- elect Donald Trump's pick for Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, stood before the Senate's armed Forces Committee on Tuesday. During the four hour hearing, he was repeatedly called unfit for the position by Democrats, while Republicans claims his unconventional background was just what the Pentagon needed. Heckset served as a National Guardsman in Guantánamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq before he began hosting a talk show with Fox News. A Senate vote is set to take place on Monday to confirm his appointment. The Supreme Court is expected to, uphold a law from last year that would effectively ban the Chinese- owned social media app TikTok. Congress passed the legislation last April, citing a concern that the app could be used by the Chinese government to spread misinformation and collect private information from American citizens. A, decision is expected to be handed down before the ban takes effect this Sunday, January 19th. President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol was detained last Wednesday due to investigations over possible insurrection. President Yoon also faces an impeachment trial for his declaration of martial law in December, which will determine whether he will be reinstated or removed from office. Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire agreement Wednesday morning that will go into effect on Sunday, January 19, according to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The accord will end the war that began on October 7, 2023. The agreement contains over 100 parts, including the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Mediators between the two parties, Qatar, Egypt and the US will help implement the decision. Negotiators were motivated to complete this agreement before the inauguration of the new U.S. president. Next up, I'll talk with Chimes News editor Olivia Kam about the L.A. county fires that ignited last week. She compiled a list of resources for students affected by the fires and a list of GoFundMes from Biola Students and faculty in need of help. Here's my conversation with Olivia
Hope Li: You scooped the university on this story from working on this article during your Christmas break. Tell me a little bit more about that and how you found out about it. Um, how the story got to you.
Olivia Kam: Yeah, so I live in the Los Angeles area, so I obviously already knew about all of the fires and also about different donation opportunities and volunteer opportunities from social media and from word of mouth. But ultimately I started working on this particular article because my boss sent it to us and was like, you guys need to start writing about this. You need to cover it. This is important for Biola to know. So one of my cowork workers took on the story about the actual fires, but I decided to go for the route of how do we as a community help people within the Biola community and without it?
Hope Li: Since you're in the L.A. county area, were you worried that it would get to you or that you would have to evacuate yourself?
Olivia Kam: Um, I live in more of the South Bay area, so everyone kind of has the understanding in L.A. county that that area was kind of unaffected. But of course I was worried about the wind turning and as soon as it reached Brentwood we started getting a tiny bit nervous cause the fire spreads so quickly and 20 miles isn't a lot for a fire either. So we were getting a tiny bit worried. So my parents decided to ask my grandparents who live in Orange County if we could stay with them if the fires ever got to that point where it reached my area.
Hope Li: What are some verified resources and GoFundMes, um, that you found and especially those that are connected to Biola that you talked about in your story?
Olivia Kam: Yeah, so there's a couple of sources that I really trust. I got most of my information actually from Instagram, which shows just how media is kind of shifting. But, um, I follow mainly the L.A. Times for this. They're doing a really good job of updating everyone about the fires and different resources. And also KTLA news is great. It's a local news station in this area and I think my family watches it almost every night. And they've also been doing a great job and thanking firefighters. As for the GoFundMes, I didn't know anyone who's setting up any, so mainly people were sending them to me. But we have a couple listed in the article and I'm sure that there's a lot more, but they just weren't sent to us. And a couple of them are students, faculty and even alumni. And some of them have to do with their houses being burned down or even their companies. So one of them is the, I think Wellema family and they have a hat company and it's been around for a pretty long time and that one got burned down. So they're asking for funds and help for both the family and their business and also supporting other people in the area. So it's just great to see that the Biola community has been helping cause some of the progress bars. Um, for one of the professors in Rosemead, her, um, goal was in like, I think about 15k and it's already been met and it's like a lot above. So I think she's uh, at like 26,000 by now. So it's amazing to see how everyone can come together and help. Especially like, it just shows how tight knit the Biola community is and how much we want to help each other.
Hope Li: Yeah, I saw that in the article. There's GoFundMe for North Steinbacher. She's a Biola alum who I knew last year. Um, Cienna Lopez, clinical psychology PhD student and also Dr. Abouezzeddine the psychology professor you're talking about. Um, I just checked the GoFundMe and their goal was initially $15,000. There's been 191 donations and they've raised over 25.5k. Um, for her and her family, which is amazing. We'll definitely be keeping them in prayer as well. Um, is there anything that you wanted to add?
Olivia Kam: Yeah, I think. Well, first of all, those numbers are crazy. And I, um, think since I probably am not the only one who doesn't really know too much about GoFundMes around the area unless they're shared with me, I think the Biola app has been really good resource because that's where I found, uh, Cienna's story and her asking for the GoFundMe. So I think, personally, I don't use the Biola app too much, but I knew that the fires were going on and I needed to find GoFundMes, but that was the only one there. And so I'm expecting in the future that there might be more posted there. And I think I would highly recommend that if people want to ask for donations, then they shouldn't be afraid to ask on the Biola app, because everyone sees that.
Hope Li: Yeah, definitely. This was Hope Li for the Chimes Weekly. Thanks for your time, Olivia.
Olivia Kam: Bye.
Hope Li: Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, leave us a review and share it with a friend or roommate. To follow the stories we covered in this week's episode and read Olivia's story, see the show notes. You can find her story at chimesnewpaper.com which has links to the GoFundMes and prayer requests. This episode was produced by Hope Li, Reagan Glidewell and Thomas Rahkola; engineered by Hope Li and Jason Lee, with music from Warner Chappell Productions. I'm Hope Li, we'll see you next week.
