I was taking the trash to my curb on another beautiful morning in California this past January when I looked up and saw a huge plume of smoke. I live only a couple of miles away from the Palisades, and I immediately thought about how we have friends who live there. I ran inside and got my wife out to see it. We called them and luckily they were OK, but they lost their home and ended up staying with us for about a week while she was nine months pregnant. Watching the news every minute, hearing testimonies about what so many people are going through while losing everything, and having this disaster right in our backyard … It felt weird sitting on my hands and not doing anything.
In those first days after the California wildfires, my wife and I began volunteering in a lot of different ways, including helping with food and clothing drives in our local neighborhood. We’d go to these volunteer centers, and they’d be overrun with the amount of donations they were given, so a lot of the work we did was merely shuffling stuff out—just driving a truck and delivering things across the city.
Seeing people come together—that was everything. From helping elderly homeowners and young families displaced from their homes, to even displaced animals at shelters, there was something for everyone to do. Everybody pitched in, and it really was special to see. But it was strange, too. In our neighborhood, even on the most beautiful days, it would be raining ash, which was a constant reminder that something was wrong and a driving force to keep getting out there and help how we could.
It was while I was volunteering with those local grassroots organizations that I got the chance to volunteer with Team Rubicon, which had stood up a wildfire response operation in the area.
I’ve been a registered Team Rubicon volunteer—or Greyshirt—for about five years, but I hadn’t yet had a chance to deploy. For years, I’d been seeing emails and posts on social media about different disasters around the globe that Team Rubicon was responding to, and I always wished I could go to Morocco to help with that earthquake relief, or to Florida to respond to this hurricane.. Then, with these fires right in our backyard, I saw a chance to deploy as a Greyshirt locally and help my own community.
Team Rubicon staged us in the Palisades area, where we began helping homeowners get back into their homes—those homes that were still standing, that is. We weren’t permitted to do any sifting or sorting, so we were helping people with the basics just to alleviate any sort of burden. At one point, we were cleaning out refrigerators in houses that had been empty for two weeks without power. The last thing you want to do when you’re getting back into your home is open a fridge like that. It was smelly work, for sure, but I know at least it was one less thing those homeowners had to deal with.
In all actuality, much of what we were doing was just being there for these survivors, and that was emotional. You could see the emotional relief that it gave people to recognize that there were others there for them.
There’s a verse in the Bible, John 15:13, “Greater love hath no one than this: to lay down one’s life for a friend.” Sure, it can mean literally laying down your life, but what it really means is just giving your time to others. And I think that’s the heart and soul of what volunteering is: just offering your time to help others in need—whatever that looks like.
Each day, after we Greyshirts finished work, I’d go home and tell my wife about the emotional connections that we made that day, or how we had helped people in different ways. Even though it was only a few miles away, she couldn’t fully experience what I was seeing. As far as the eye could see, there’d be nothing but ash, chimneys, and shelled-out cars. Then there’d be a random Peloton bike frame still standing.
Those random things that somehow still stand, like ghostly reminders of past lives… Those were some of the things that got me the most.
Hearing personal stories from my fellow Greyshirts was incredibly impactful as well. I had the pleasure of speaking with a lot of Greyshirt veterans about their time in the service and how Team Rubicon has been such a blessing for them emotionally and physically. As a civilian, I’ve always had a deep appreciation for those who put on the uniform, and I’m grateful to have had the time to listen to them while being there for our community together. I had recently filmed a movie, Warfare, where I play a military role, and getting to volunteer alongside a bunch of veterans with Team Rubicon felt serendipitous in a way. As an actor, I’ve always wanted to be a part of a story within the military community, partially from my grandfather who served during WWII, and partially from my own appreciation for the stories that can come from that extreme test of humanity… To have my first military-genre film be Warfare, directed by Alex Garland and Navy SEAL veteran Ray Mendoza, is a responsibility that has been one of the biggest honors of my life. That’s who we made the movie for: the veterans. Nothing else mattered truly. It was a movie made for the men we played in the film, first and foremost. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as an actor to be a part of something like that. In a way similar to volunteering, I believe I’m a better man because of it.
I think it’s good to remember that it doesn’t take a natural disaster to get out there and help your community. There are so many ways to give back, so don’t wait. Whether you’re deploying with Team Rubicon to a faraway community struck by disaster, volunteering in your own neighborhood, or simply lending your ear and giving your time to a stranger, you can help make a difference in this gift of life we all share.
Greyshirt Evan Holtzman is an actor who is currently starring in the film “Warfare.” He has starred in such films as “Hit Man,” “Bolt from the Blue,” and “Hidden Figures,” and in TV series including “On The Verge,” “Messiah,” “The Inspectors,” “S.W.A.T.,” and more.
