When Michelle Bellamy evacuated her residence due to thePalisades Fire, she thought about grabbing Gretchyn, the acoustic Martin guitar gifted by a neighbor years ago and one that she wrote all her songs on.
Yet there was the voice in her head telling her she would return.
That didn't happen. Instead, the place she'd called home with her three children was taken by the fire in January 2025.
Several months later, however, Bellamy was gifted a guitar from Abby Sher, a Pacific Palisades resident who'd long stopped playing one of her "prized possessions." It was a donation facilitated through the efforts of nonprofit organizationAltadena Musicians, the brainchild of music composer Brandon Jay.
The loss has led to this "beautiful story," Bellamy said, referring to the gift of "this amazing guitar that I'm forever grateful for from Abby."
To Bellamy, Jay is a "matchmaker." He's been helping victims of the Los Angeles fires last January recoup their instruments and audio equipment through donations. It's a role he carved out for himself not long after theEaton Firetook his home and his recording studio, including all the instruments he and his wife amassed.
More than one year after the fire, it seems to him that every day, someone else finds out about Altadena Musicians, Jay said.
Now, Jay is looking to scale his creation. His vision: Launch the app Altadena Musicians anywhere in the nation and get connected to someone who can get you the instrument you need.
Yet as he eyes a wider audience, Jay is also looking to serve his local community thanks to his recently rebranded Altadena Music Center in Pasadena.
'If I could help to restore her loss': Behind one donation
TOP A firefighter sprays water on a burning home while battling the Eaton Fire on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec. 18, 2025. The destructive and deadly wind-driven Eaton Fire ripped through Altadena, California, on Jan. 7, 2025, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,000 structures. The fire is the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive wildfire in California history. Getty Images staff photographer Justin Sullivan revisited some of the locations he covered during the fire, nearly one year after it happened." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Wind bends palm trees as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM Trees line a street nearly one year after the Eaton Fire on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Residents dig through the remains of their family's home that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire on Jan. 9, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP A home burns as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. Fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds, the Eaton Fire has grown to over 10,000 acres and has destroyed many homes and businesses. BOTTOM A construction worker walks through a construction site of a home that is being rebuilt nearly one year after the Eaton Fire destroyed it on Dec. 19, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP A car burns as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A burn scar is visible on the street in front of a property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Wind pushes embers into a home as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Los Angeles County firefighters spray water on a burning home as they battle the Eaton Fire on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago is seen under construction on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP A car burns as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM Fencing surrounds a property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Los Angeles County firefighters pull a hose in front of a burning home as the Eaton Fire moved through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP A resident removes valuables from his home as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Los Angeles County firefighters spray water on burning homes as they battle the Eaton Fire on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A view of a street that was ravaged by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago on Dec. 19, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Fire engulfs a home as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM Roses bloom on a property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago on Dec. 19, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP A vintage car sits parked in front of a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on Jan. 18, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec.18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP A resident inspects the remains of her home that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire on Jan. 9, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM Fencing surrounds a property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Los Angeles County firefighters try unsuccessfully to get water from a hydrant as they battle the Eaton Fire on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A pedestrian walks by a former Bank of America building that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP A business burns as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A sign remains standing at a property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago on Dec. 19, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
TOP Los Angeles County firefighters attempt to put out a fire at a Bank of America as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif. BOTTOM A former Bank of America building that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec. 18, 2025." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> See dramatic before and after images from the Eaton Fire one year later
TOPA firefighter sprays water on a burning home while battling the Eaton Fire on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, Calif.BOTTOMA property that was destroyed by the Eaton Fire nearly one year ago sits vacant on Dec. 18, 2025. The destructive and deadly wind-driven Eaton Fire ripped through Altadena, California, on Jan. 7, 2025, killing 19 people and destroying more than 9,000 structures. The fire is the fifth deadliest and the second most destructive wildfire in California history. Getty Images staff photographer Justin Sullivan revisited some of the locations he covered during the fire, nearly one year after it happened.
No more than two weeks after the Eaton Fire ignited, Jay had a gig to play: the annual Pasadena Neighbor Day. He made a Facebook post describing what instruments he needed, and loved ones showed up with them at the show, Jay said.
It arrived as Jay came to another realization about the numerous instruments he and his wife lost to the Eaton Fire.
"I want to replace them with ones that I get from friends or from people in the music community," Jay said. "I don't want to just get some money from my homeowner's insurance and then buy instruments that don't have a story behind them, because it's just going to make me sad that I don't have the first guitar that I learned how to play on, or the harmonium that my mother-in-law gave us that my daughter wrote her first song on."
Less than a month after the Eaton Fire broke out, Altadena Musicians launched.
Bellamy didn't have to wait long to find out that Altadena Musicians had a match for her after she reached out over social media last year.
"And within 20 minutes after messaging them, Brandon texted me and was like, 'Oh my God, I'm so thankful you messaged us,'" Bellamy said.
He had a "perfect match" for her.
"We've been looking for someone that lost a Martin that is the same description as the one you lost in the fire," Bellamy recalled of Jay's response.
That's how Bellamy ultimately met Sher in person — Jay said he is big on having people connect directly and meet each other when gifting and receiving an instrument or equipment.
The two shared an embrace when they met in April 2025. Then, Sher handed her the instrument, a guitar that was gifted to the 81-year-old by her brother and one she'd stopped playing years ago, she said.
Bellamy's happiness in having a guitar made Sher happy, she said.
"I would have sold it, as I had planned to," Sher said when asked about whether knowing her instrument would go to a person impacted by the fires carried any more significance to her.
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"But if I could help to restore her loss, that was the motivation for me in giving it," she said.
How Altadena Musicians has inspired another Eaton Fire survivor
On a Sunday in January amid an instrument drive for Altadena Musicians, Sunny Lu was given an Apollo Twin X, an audio interface that she said allows for professional-level, quality sound output. It was an item she felt she couldn't have justified replacing for herself anytime soon, and it was a donation that meant the world to her, she said.
Lu narrates audiobooks and lost her home, including her basement studio, in the Eaton Fire. The dedicated recording space was important for her work and had housed equipment like an audio interface that she had actually upgraded to "honor" her career, she said.
"Because it's been donated and has its story, it also has been imbued with this new importance," Lu said of the audio equipment.
The audio equipment, which entered her life because someone cared enough to help her, has transformed into something beyond aiding her professionally.
"There's something about it reentering my life in this very special way where I feel like I need to give it the extra respect that it's due, because now I have like a duty and responsibility as the next, the next user — the next owner," Lu said.
Also on that January day came Gayle Nicholls-Ali, who was there to pick up an instrument. Her husband, Rasheed Ali, lost his recording studio at their Altadena home due to the Eaton Fire. Also gone was Nicholls-Ali's studio for her photography.
Seeing the existence of Altadena Musicians had spurred Nicholls-Ali to ask: Who is helping out the photographers?
She reached out to Jay in 2025, who walked her though how he created Altadena Musicians. It led her to formAltadena Photographers, which similarly aims to help people recoup their equipment through donations.
But that's just one part of helping photographers in Altadena, Nicholls-Ali said. It's also about helping them with their mental health and connecting them to what they need, according to Nicholls-Ali. That's taken the form of connecting people to work opportunities and being responsive when they tell her they need other items, from computers or to use a printer for their photos.
"We're thinking about holistically, how can we help beyond the camera gear?" Nicholls-Ali said. "How can we help?"
To Jay, Nicholls-Ali's efforts have been "incredible."
"It's really a wonderful thing to help people," Jay said.
What's next for Altadena Musicians one year after the fires
Altadena Musicians launched an app called Instrument Giving in 2025, the "wedding registry for musicians" that lets people list what they lost in the Los Angeles fires, according to the organization.
Jay hopes to scale the app so that it's not just for people impacted by fires in Southern California, but rather, a tool people facing disasters anywhere can turn to and get back the instrument or equipment they'd lost, according to Jay.
Perhaps there could even be a version of the app where people are just sharing their instruments to someone who needs it or wants to borrow it, unrelated to a disaster, he said.
Jay has also been creating something for his local community: the Altadena Music Center off Lincoln Avenue in Pasadena.
The space — which Jay aims to have a grand opening for later this year — has already held programming like open mic nights, live music and even an evening dedicated to guitar repairs. It's a destination for people to gather, and a "music hub for the community," he said. Also in the plans at the space: an area for those impacted by the fires to recoup their record collections, and a recording studio for people to use, according to Jay.
"The one super cool thing in all this is just people meeting each other and building a bigger music community, both people that are fire impacted and then other people that are just donating instruments and just meeting people that they're giving them to and staying in contact and coming and seeing them play live," he said.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her atpbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Altadena Musicians helps LA fires recovery, instrument by instrument