Leadership Pasadena will honor six community leaders who transformed chaos into coordination during the Eaton Fire response at its first-ever Impact Awards luncheon on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at The Shakespeare Club, with 24-year-old meteorologist Edgar McGregor delivering the keynote address.
The awards, presented by DINE Brands, recognize individuals and organizations who stepped forward when the January 7 Eaton Fire struck Altadena and East Pasadena. According to Leadership Pasadena’s fact sheet, the event celebrates “extraordinary individuals and organizations shaping the greater Pasadena and Altadena community” through their response efforts.
“We had originally planned to launch the Impact Awards in February, but for obvious reasons, we postponed until now,” said Nancy Carol Inguanzo, Executive Director of Leadership Pasadena. The awards emerged from witnessing how the fire “brought leadership to life in very real ways, showing that leadership in our area is less about concepts and more about connection and service.”
Keynote Speaker and Honoree: The Voice in the Storm
Edgar McGregor, the 24-year-old climatologist who became the community’s trusted source for weather updates during the Eaton Fire crisis, will both receive an award and deliver the keynote address.
A graduate of San Jose State University’s climatology program, McGregor provided critical, up-to-date weather warnings and reliable information when the community needed it most.
Beyond his emergency weather service, McGregor has become known for his environmental activism, including documenting 1,997 consecutive daily trash pick-ups. He leads the Altadena Weather and Climate Facebook group and publishes WeatherMcGregor on Patreon while working part-time as a Los Angeles County Recreational Services Leader.
“What connected them was their authenticity and their willingness to act, regardless of age, title, or structure,” Inguanzo observed, specifically noting how McGregor exemplifies next-generation leadership alongside veteran responders.
The Honorees and Their Impact
The awards recognize a diverse group of leaders whose combined efforts mobilized over 2,000 volunteers and distributed more than $700,000 in aid, according to Leadership Pasadena documentation.
Brandon Lamar, President of the Pasadena NAACP and founder of the DENA Relief Drive, will be honored for establishing what became the community’s first and longest-running distribution hub. “When I started the Dena Relief Drive, there were no other aid efforts active at the time,” Lamar recalled of his January 8 visit to the Pasadena Convention Center. “There were few—if any—city or county staff present. It was mostly community volunteers stepping up to help one another.”
Lamar’s DENA Relief Drive mobilized 200 volunteers in its first month alone, eventually growing to more than 1,800 volunteers according to Leadership Pasadena’s fact sheet. The effort distributed over $30,000 in gift cards, served more than 15,000 hot meals, assisted 250 families with short-term housing, and distributed 150 laptops and 700 pairs of new shoes through a Youth Resource Fair.
Darryl Qualls and Jill Hawkins, co-founders of the Eaton Fire Collaborative, will be recognized for creating what grew from five volunteers at Pasadena City College into a network of over 200 partner organizations.
“We started volunteering there and realized that there were about 30 different distribution events happening all over the city, and they were causing all kinds of chaos within our community,” Hawkins explained. The situation was so severe that “fire trucks weren’t able to get out of their houses because cars were backed up.”
Qualls, a retired Deputy Police Chief with 30 years in public safety who holds degrees from Azusa Pacific and CSU Dominguez Hills plus a Harvard management certificate, leveraged decades of relationships to build the collaborative. “Over the thirty years I spent in Public Safety, I was able to come to know many people personally which I think helped in establishing the Eaton Fire Collaborative because there were many years of trust already established,” he said.
Hawkins, a professional event coordinator and Tournament of Roses “White Suiter,” applied her logistics expertise to disaster coordination. “I’m an event coordinator by trade, and so coordination is my skillset,” she explained. “But the biggest difference I would say is the emotions and that the required empathy that’s needed to do the work.”
Josh McCurry and Flintridge Center will be honored for distributing nearly $700,000 in direct assistance to fire survivors. “All funds received went directly to supporting survivors; Flintridge used no funds for operational costs,” McCurry emphasized. The organization’s response revealed unexpected community strength: “Many of the volunteers who helped manage our site were from Flintridge’s existing constituency: local, gang-impacted and formerly incarcerated community members working tirelessly.”
The center served over 1,100 individuals with emergency supplies over two weeks and continues providing housing, food, transportation, and essential services support.
Pamela Cantero-More, Recreation & Community Services Superintendent for the City of Pasadena, will be recognized for opening the emergency evacuation shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center immediately after the fire, bridging a critical gap until Red Cross services arrived and the shelter later transitioned to Pamela Park in Duarte in February 2025.
Why These Awards Matter Now
The awards ceremony comes as the community transitions from emergency response to long-term recovery. The Eaton Fire Collaboratory, a permanent recovery hub, opened this month at the former JPL Mission Control Center in Altadena. “This is the grand opening of the Collaboratory. This was JPL before us, and this is where they launched the Voyager from Mission Control,” Hawkins announced at the October 23 opening.
The recognition also reflects a shift in Leadership Pasadena’s own mission. The organization’s 2025 cohort pivoted its entire curriculum to focus on fire recovery and resilience projects. “The pivot gave our cohort a place to focus efforts that felt timely and needed,” Inguanzo explained. Over 470 Leadership Pasadena alumni mobilized during the crisis, coordinating donations, volunteering with recovery teams, and connecting displaced families with resources.
A Model for Future Crises
The rapid coordination achieved by these leaders offers lessons for future emergencies. Within days of the fire, multiple independent efforts merged into coordinated response networks. “Our role as a donation and distribution center began with a phone call from community leader Brandon Lamar who, the day after the fires, said ‘People want to help we just don’t have a space,'” McCurry recalled. “Let’s use Flintridge,” he responded, demonstrating the rapid decision-making that characterized the response.
The collaborative model that emerged—connecting nonprofits, government agencies, faith communities, and grassroots organizers—has become a template. Leadership Pasadena reports the Eaton Fire Collaborative now includes partners ranging from the Pasadena Educational Foundation and Tournament of Roses to the John Muir Alumni Association, Altadena Town Council, Pasadena Jaycees, My Tribe RISE, and the Altadena Library District.
“The response from this fire showed me that through collaboration we can really solve our community’s most complex needs like homelessness, food insecurities, mental health support and so much more,” Lamar reflected.
Beyond Recognition
For the honorees, the awards represent not an endpoint but a milestone in ongoing work. “Our Apprenticeship Preparation Program, which prepares formerly incarcerated individuals for union construction careers, is well-positioned to develop a workforce capable of supporting rebuilding efforts,” McCurry said. The program has already helped Habitat for Humanity break ground on their first rebuild site on October 16.
The personal cost of sustained crisis response weighs on organizers. “All of the work with the Eaton Fire Collaborative is voluntary. I don’t get paid. I haven’t gotten a dime since the beginning,” Hawkins noted. “This work has also taught me the importance of taking care of myself. I’m still learning how to do that well, because this journey is a marathon, not a sprint,” Lamar added.
Yet the commitment remains unwavering. “I am retired now but I think I still have some value. I want to help. I will continue to help. That is who we are,” said Qualls, capturing the spirit that the Impact Awards seek to celebrate.
Event Details
The inaugural Impact Awards luncheon will take place Wednesday, October 29, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at The Shakespeare Club, 171 S. Grand Ave., Pasadena. Tickets are available through Eventbrite via Leadership Pasadena’s website.
Sponsorship levels range from $500 (Friend) to $10,000 (Presenting Sponsor), with confirmed sponsors including DINE Brands (Presenting), Panda Restaurant Group, The Fletcher Jones Foundation, The HBF Foundation, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Hahn & Hahn LLP, Huntington Health, and Lagerlof LLP.
“Sponsorship supports Leadership Pasadena’s mission to develop collaborative, forward-thinking leaders who embrace diverse perspectives and build resilient, equitable communities and organizations,” the organization states.
Inguanzo sees the awards as establishing a new tradition that transcends this single crisis. “The Impact Awards are about lifting up those stories and reminding us that leadership is not rare here, it’s everywhere.”
As Lamar noted in February: “We’ve made a tremendous impact, but there is still more work to be done.”
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