Beloved stuffed animals lost in LA fires: Volunteers are replacing them

Written by Amy Ta, produced by Brian Hardzinski

Shana Merrill’s son lies with his owl lovies, before the Palisades Fire. Courtesy of Shana Merrill.

Many volunteer opportunities have cropped up in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton Fires. One of them: Reunite kids with stuffed animals that were abandoned or destroyed when their homes burned down.

Ashley Reckdenwald, who runs the parenting website Working Mom Notes, started a Google spreadsheet where families describe stuffed animals they’ve lost, and connect with volunteers who’ll try to replace them. 

Shana Merrill turned to this spreadsheet to find a very specific and special owl. Her family lost their home in the Palisades Fire, including almost all of her two sons’ (ages 10 and 12) beloved stuffed animals. 

“You would think that maybe by this time, they were getting over the stuffed animal phase, but they're still so attached,” she tells KCRW. “And this was just the biggest area of grief for them in those first few days … They just were crying non-stop. … Their stuffed animals were their confidants, their friends, their family. .. They have names. They play with each other's. They know who's who. … I would even catch my kids talking to them, and great, that was their outlet.”  

Merrill recalls that on January 7, when the Palisades Fire broke out, she was at her office while her husband was working from home, so he evacuated with the kids. He grabbed a weekend bag and a few documents. One of their sons grabbed a stuffed animal and a lovey, while the other son took his set of lovies and left behind the stuffed animals. 

Everyone thought they’d return home in a few days and the situation was no big deal. “And then when the reality set in, the grief did.” 

Her younger son especially mourned his collection of Angel Dear brown owls, which was discontinued years ago. Only one of the six lovies survived the fire. 

“I was telling a friend about this, and she sent me the Google Doc link. And I said, ‘What the heck? Let's try.’ … And they contacted me very quickly with some options that they were able to find on eBay.”

She continues, “Just the happiness, the smile he got when I told him … there's going to be one, it's a little bigger, but it's the exact same color and same company and everything. And he's just so excited for them to come in, and I know they're enroute, being shipped.” 


An Angel Dear brown owl lovey. Courtesy of Shana Merrill. 

As a parent, how has Merrill talked about the fires with her kids? She says they were watching the news too on day one. And on day two, when the family learned that their neighborhood was destroyed and their own home most likely gone, she started keeping her kids away from the news (and especially photos of their house). 

“I think the images are a little too much for them. And they do understand what's happening, and that it's not just them, it's all of their friends, it's the school, it's the park.”

Her family is now staying in Thousand Oaks, and her sons started a new school last week. “That's … just recreating a new life. And not replacing. But just moving forward, knowing that every day is going to be a little different, a little harder, a little easier. … We're making sure that they know it's okay to feel whatever it is they're feeling. Sad, happy, angry. And we just are trying to ensure that they're processing.” 

As for Merrill herself, she says her feelings have run the gamut. “I see the positive, I see the negative. I'm constantly being reminded of, oh my gosh, that's right, this item is gone, or that item is gone. There's so many memories. I'm grateful for the memories I have and that I'm old enough to have the memories. I question what my kids are going to remember. My 10-year-old, how much of the house that we thought would be our forever home, how much of that is he going to remember? And it's just that was our dream — to [live] in that community … and have the kids grow up in that community. So it's tough. We're just trying to move forward and deal with everything.”