A free workshop on March 30 will invite older adults to turn memories of holidays, family milestones, and traditions into scrapbooks and story collections, led by a trauma-recovery nonprofit that has worked in disaster zones across 75 countries, according to its website.
The Legacy Project, a program of the Claremont-based Trauma Resource Institute, pairs guided conversations about meaningful personal memories with hands-on creative work — participants make memory albums, story collections, and scrapbooks designed to preserve their experiences for future generations.
At Pasadena Village, the program is aimed at older adults still processing loss from the Eaton Fire, which destroyed more than 9,000 structures in Altadena and surrounding communities in January 2025.
The two-hour session, scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon at the Pasadena Village community room, is free and open to the public but limited to 29 participants.
Jim Hendrick, who co-chairs Pasadena Village’s Cultural Activities Team, is organizing the event.
The Trauma Resource Institute describes itself as an international nonprofit focused on skills-based interventions rooted in neuroscience research. The organization has been offering free resiliency workshops for communities affected by the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, according to the Eaton Fire Residents United resource directory.
Pasadena Village, a nonprofit serving adults over 55, has hosted multiple fire-recovery programs since the Eaton Fire. Within days of the fire, the organization contacted all 236 older adults in its network; 91 had evacuated and 20 had lost their homes, according to a prior Pasadena Now report.
“We are seeing the continued need for building community, for having trustworthy connections and resources and to know who to turn to ask for help,” Katie Brandon, executive director of Pasadena Village, said in a previous interview.
The Legacy Project’s approach focuses on remembrance, creativity, and resilience rather than clinical treatment, according to the event listing — a framing designed to make the program accessible to anyone who wants to share and create something tangible.
The workshop will be held at the Village Office Community Room, 236 West Mountain Street #113, in Pasadena. Registration is available at pasadenavillage.org. For more information, contact info@pasadenavillage.org or https://www.traumaresourceinstitute.com/about. You can also call at 626-765-6037.
“As a peer support community, the older adults involved in Pasadena Village had developed strong relationships with each other, and so they were often the first people to call and text and knock on doors to notify each other that the fires were happening and many of them evacuated together,” Brandon said.
