Jacory Russell of Pasadena, who lost his home to the Eaton fire in January, knows better than most the importance of keeping hope alive.

“At this moment, a lot of people don’t have a lot of hope,” he said.

But on Saturday, July 19, a job fair specifically geared toward fire survivors brought some direct opportunities to be hopeful to more than a thousand people in Pasadena.

The event was held at the First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena, a.k.a. PazNaz Church. Along with providing introductions to close to two dozen recruiters, organizers gathered a range of resources services together, along with free supplies, and some skills workshops for job seekers on resume building and interview techniques.

“Having all the resources in one stop, in one location, for survivors, helps to take the confusion out of all the various resources available,” explained Danielle Dreis, executive director with Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) Pacific, which organized the event in collaboration with Cal OES, L.A. County and the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation.

“We have FEMA,” Dreis said. “We have all the community-based organizations. Everybody here is providing different kinds of assistance — jobs, rental information, small business help — and it’s all in one place.”

“It saves time,” she said. “It gets questions answered quickly and efficiently.

Finding work has been one of the significant barriers to many people that are trying to bounce back from the devastation of the fires. This particular job fair, which was restricted to only people who were impacted by the fires around Pasadena and Pacific Palisades, offered many people the chance to be directly hired.

“These are employers who are ready to interview and potentially hire on the spot,” Dreis said, with 1,400 people signing up to attend the event.

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Along with other agencies, the Los Angeles Police Department was represented for recruitment.

“This is great that people are here,” Officer Brian Bradley said, noting that qualified people could earn $91,000 to start and that the hiring process could immediately get underway this very day.

“If we can help people get back on their feet, this is going to change their lives,” he said.

Elizabeth Jernberg, director of operations with GEM, USA West, is herself a fire survivor who recognizes the value of bringing this community a consolidated stop for their various needs.

“We worked really hard this time making history,” she said. “It’s never been done in the disaster world, implementing a job fair with on-the-spot hires, recruitments, and classes and training to get them hired … It’s quite amazing that this came through. It was a lot of planning. It was a lot of work.”

“Our goal is to place at least 500 people through our program,” Jernberg said. “It’s going to get them a job immediately or hired on the spot.”

Many of the recruiters represented first-responder groups, including the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, fire departments and other emergency workers. There were also job opportunities with different government agencies, with schools and healthcare organizations, and also placement relating to disaster relief.

“Jobs equal financial security,” Jernberg said, “which equals long-term housing, so the only way we can do this is if we can get these families into the workforce again.”

Russell was among those who praised this event.

“I think it gives hope and it keeps people in the right mental state,” he said. “Just to see help from the city gives people hope, that there are still things going on.”

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While he said it continues to be a challenging time for himself and many people he knows in the area, survivors continue to look for positive things to focus on.

“It’s a lot, but we’re alive,” Russell said, “and we’ve been through so much harder stuff.”

Jarret Liotta is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and photographer.