Broadway Cares Provides $500,000 in Emergency Grants to Support California Wildfire Recovery

Broadway Cares has awarded $500,000 in emergency grants, powered by the theater community’s generosity, to help Los Angeles-area residents and first responders as they continue to battle the barrage of wildfires devastating the region.
 
Responding to one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in California’s history, Broadway Cares has sent $250,000 to the Entertainment Community Fund; $100,000 to the California Fire Foundation Wildfire & Disaster Relief Fund; $100,000 to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank; and $50,000 to longtime Broadway Cares grantee Project Angel Food.
 
All of these organizations are providing much-needed, on-the-ground support for residents and first responders. These grants were unanimously approved by the Broadway Cares Board of Trustees executive committee.
 
“In times of crisis, the theater community, with Broadway Cares as its philanthropic heart, has always been a beacon of resilience and collective strength,” said Robert E. Wankel, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Board of Trustees president and chairman and CEO of The Shubert Organization. “These wildfires have left deep scars, but they’ve also ignited a powerful wave of support from Broadway to the West Coast.”
 
Broadway Cares Executive Director Danny Whitman said: “Our compassionate community knows the power of coming together in times of need. Because of the generosity of the theater community - those onstage, backstage and in the audience - these emergency grants will immediately provide meals, shelter, medical care, clothing and emergency financial assistance, all first steps on the long road toward recovering, rebuilding and healing.”
 
What started as a catastrophic fire on January 7, 2025, affecting the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades rapidly transformed into multiple fires enveloping the city, forcing tens of thousands of individuals and families to flee their homes, often with just minutes to spare. Homes, businesses, forests, landmarks and vital infrastructure have been reduced to ashes, leaving thousands of residents displaced. The wildfires have burned more than 40,000 acres - nearly three times the size of Manhattan. The ongoing devastation will create long-term challenges for rebuilding efforts, while highlighting the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires due to climate change.
 
The emergency grants are being awarded to:
 
· The Entertainment Community Fund, which, through its west coast office, is helping those in the industry affected by the wildfires and unable to pay their immediate basic living expenses get emergency financial assistance to cover housing, transportation, food, clothing, medical supplies and prescriptions. ($250,000)
 
· California Fire Foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of the state firefighters' union. The foundation’s Wildfire & Disaster Relief Fund is directly supporting firefighters and survivors of the horrendous wildfires with immediate, short-term relief through its Supplying Aid to Victims of Emergency (SAVE) program. ($100,000)
 
· The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which is working with its network of more than 600 partner organizations - nonprofits, government agencies and faith-based partners - to provide vital support to those that continue to operate so that anyone facing food or nutrition insecurity receives help. ($100,000)
 
· Project Angel Food in Los Angeles, which has been a grantee of Broadway Cares since 1993. This emergency grant to Project Angel Food's Fire Relief Fund ensures that staff and volunteer drivers will continue to tirelessly navigate road closures and hazardous air across Los Angeles to make sure no one misses a single delivery of nutrition and hope. ($50,000).