Green Tip: Connecting the Community

The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a “green tip” to our readers in each newspaper. This edition’s tip was written by Resilient Palisades Social Media Lead Sara G. Marti.

Immediately after the fire—like literally the next day—I found myself scrambling to reconnect with the people who meant the most to me: my Resilient Palisades family and the board of the Palisades Village Green. It was all too clear that everything physical I’d known to be true was gone.

I already knew many of my fellow community leaders had lost their homes, because, like everyone else, I was glued to the news, recognizing each street, each address, each heartbreak. I reopened the Village Green email thread, and soon Resilient Palisades was back on Zoom.

One by one, we confirmed what we already feared, but also something far more important: That even in the worst moments, we still had each other. And that meant we still had home.

We didn’t fall apart. We regrouped, re-imagined and rebuilt.

The Village Green, miraculously, had sustained only minor damage and by early spring, the trees were blooming again. Our board president, Cindy Kirven, through her own loss, made sure repairs happened.

Resilient Palisades reorganized too, creating new priorities for a changed world.

But what I really want to share this week isn’t a green piece of advice. It’s a feeling. Because what sustained me then, and still does now, are the moments when our community comes together in small but powerful ways.

That feeling resurfaced this month at our annual vegan potluck, a beloved Resilient Palisades tradition that, like so many of us, found a temporary home this year. Still, the warmth was the same. Neighbors and friends sharing food, stories, laughter and a sense of continuity that can’t be lost to any fire.

Resilience, I’ve learned, often begins with simple acts: showing up, sharing a meal, keeping the conversation going. And we’ll keep doing just that.

Our next event is a Wildfire Rebuilding & Resource Expo on Saturday, October 25, from 1 to 4 p.m. It’s in the Snapchat building, located at 3250 Ocean Park Boulevard, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Department of Angels.

We know you’re tired. We are too. We will feed you.

Come connect, learn and be part of the movement toward a more connected Palisades.