Dear friends and colleagues,
We wanted to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who has taken the time to reach out to us over the past week – a week that has challenged our strength as a community more than we could have ever imagined.
We have heard from many of you from all over the globe expressing thoughts of well wishes and support, as the Woolsey Fire swiftly and relentlessly traveled throughout our community, just hours after an armed gunman entered the Borderline Bar and Grill, killing 12 people and wounding many more.
We are deeply indebted to the first responders, including the firefighters, sheriffs, law enforcement as well as to city officials who worked hard to both protect the community and keep the community informed during this critical time.
Although the wildfire threatened many of the homes and neighborhoods of our staff as well as our buildings, we are pleased to report that no one on our staff was hurt or lost a home in the fire. Our campuses in Agoura Hills and Westlake Village also managed to escape the flames.
Many of our neighbors were not as lucky, as more than 500 homes have been destroyed in our area. Further north in Paradise, California, the fires have been swifter and deadlier, and even more people are without homes. As we slowly return to our daily routines, we know that firefighters are still working around the clock to extinguish the Woolsey Fire, which is now about 57 percent contained.
As we continue to process what we’ve experienced as a community over the past week, we are working hard to identify grantmaking opportunities that will help the community, both in the short- and long-term. We will share our plans as soon as we have made those decisions.
On behalf of everyone at the Hilton Foundation, thank you for all of your continued thoughts and well wishes.