At a Glance
- René Amy is blanketing fire-scorched Altadena with a quarter of a billion poppy seeds.
- More than 700 homeowners have granted permission for seeding on their land.
- Amy has personally invested roughly $20,000 to fund the volunteer effort.
- Why it matters: The project offers both ecological restoration and emotional healing to residents who lost homes in the Eaton Fire.
René Amy lost his house in January’s Eaton Fire. Now he is leading a grassroots campaign to repaint Altadena in the orange-gold glow of California poppies, the region’s native bloom that once carpeted the hillsides.
From Ashes to Wildflowers
Amy calls the effort the Great Altadena Poppy Project. Working with volunteers, he is distributing 250 million poppy seeds across properties scorched by the blaze.
“Naturally and historically, this area, Altadena, was known to have been covered with California poppies,” Amy said.
The goal is simple: restore a sense of place and optimism while the community rebuilds.
Volunteers Rally for Rebirth
Kellie Evans and her teenage son, Duncan Atticott, joined the movement on a recent Thursday, visiting 36 properties in a single day to scatter seeds.
Both Evans and Atticott lost their own homes. They also seeded the lot where Evans’ mother’s house once stood.
“I like to say it’s like getting therapy for free. I’m going to start crying,” Evans said, voice cracking.
Atticott added, “We won’t have to drive that far to see the poppy bloom this year.”
One Man’s Gift to His Town
Amy has shouldered almost the entire financial burden himself, spending about $20,000 to purchase seeds and organize volunteers.
“It’s a multi-prong effort,” he explained. “Every aspect of this, you can peel back another layer and go, ‘Oh yeah, there’s that aspect, as well.’ It’s mostly for folks like me who lost everything in the fire. My house burned to the ground.”
Despite the loss, his commitment to Altadena remains unshaken.
“There’s no place I would rather live than in Altadena,” he said. “It’s the sense of community, the natural beauty and the people are great.”
Project Momentum Builds
To date, over 700 homeowners have signed forms allowing the volunteers to seed their fire-damaged lots.
The team continues to schedule weekend workdays, hoping that winter rains will carry the tiny seeds across the soil and yield a spectacular spring bloom.
Key Takeaways
- A single resident, René Amy, is funding and organizing one of the largest native-flower reseeding efforts in Altadena history.
- Volunteers who themselves lost homes are turning grief into action, treating the sowing of poppies as communal therapy.
- With permission secured from hundreds of property owners, the project could transform charred landscapes into fields of color within months.
