By Karin Al-Hardan, Executive Director, Malibu Education Foundation
On October 15th, as smoke rose over Malibu again, we made the call to postpone our gala. It wasn’t a hard decision. When our community is focused on safety and on each other, everything else waits.
What happened next is what happens after every fire I’ve experienced since moving to Malibu. The community rallied.
Within hours, every part of the evening reconfirmed for November 7. Our MCs, Cisco Adler and Page Bartelt, both parents at our schools, said yes. So did Malibu Sushi by Howdy, which spent the weekend feeding firefighters and neighbors without power, and Malibu Bungalows, our florist. Our co-chairs, Becks Wolski and Susan Chokachi, and a team of volunteers never stopped working. Nobody asked whether it was worth the trouble. They just showed up.
Showing up is what our schools need from all of us right now.
Malibu Education Foundation received its 501(c)(3) status on January 7, 2025, the day the Palisades fire broke out. We have been learning how to serve our schools through crisis since our first day. After that fire, our students didn’t only lose classroom days. They lost momentum. Families were displaced, routines broke, and learning gaps opened that don’t close on their own. Last year, our community raised $150,000 at our gala. Part of it funded an academic intervention pilot at Malibu High School, giving students who fell behind the targeted support to catch up.
It’s working. And it takes all of us to keep it going.
Something else helped too. In 2024, our first year of operation, Malibu Education Foundation founded and funded athletics at Malibu Middle School. When students came back after the fire, the team was there waiting for them: a reason to show up, a place to belong, and a feeling of normal. Some of the most important recovery happened on the field, not in the classroom. The program proved its value so clearly that the district now funds it fully. That’s what Malibu Education Foundation does best: we start what our schools need, prove it works, and help make it last.
Our four public schools serve every child in Malibu, whatever their family’s circumstances. State funding covers the basics, but not the extras that make a school great, or the safety net a student needs after a hard year. Malibu Education Foundation fills that space with academic intervention and acceleration, support for arts and athletics across all four schools, and new programs that start at one school and grow to serve all four. This year we aim to raise $900,000 for our schools, and the gala is the biggest piece of it: $250,000 in one night. Every dollar stays in Malibu’s public schools.
Here’s how you can help.
Join us November 7 at Malibu High School. Tickets are $200, and $100 for MHS alumni. Get yours at onecau.se/mefgala.
Bid, even if you can’t come. The silent auction is open now through gala night, with no ticket needed. For live auction items, email karin@malibueducationfoundation.org to place a proxy bid.
See something remarkable. Artist Rogan Gregory created and donated a sculpture for Malibu High School, a much-needed public art installation in Malibu. On gala night, we’ll unveil the mold so guests can see its true scale, along with a message from Rogan and Bethany. We’ll also offer Study No. 1, the first in a series of 12, a piece normally available only to collectors.
Malibu has learned a lot about rebuilding. We know it isn’t one big moment, but thousands of small decisions to stay, to help, and to invest in what comes next. Our children are what comes next.
See you on November 7.
Donate anytime at malibueducationfoundation.org.