Girl Scouts Donate to Caltech for Fire Recovery

Among the more than 4,300 donors who have contributed to help Caltech community members recover from the January 2025 fires were eight Girl Scout Brownies from Troop 3684 in La Verne.

The girls, all starting fourth grade in fall 2025, raised $1,000 in cookie-sale earnings for the Caltech and JPL Disaster Relief Fund. Six troop members visited the office of Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics, to present their check.

"So many people on campus and at JPL were affected by the fires," President Rosenbaum said to the girls. "Three hundred lost their homes and thousands have had to move. We are grateful to all those in the community who have helped. You are a wonderful example of that help, a real inspiration."

When the January wildfires broke out, troop member Katelyn Ore's mother, Tracy Chen, told her daughter and the troop leaders that many Caltech community members—including longtime supporters of the troop—had lost their homes. Chen knew that because she works at IPAC, a science and data center on campus that supports more than 20 astrophysics and planetary science missions and projects.

Caltech quickly established the Caltech and JPL Disaster Relief Fund to help faculty, JPL employees, staff, postdoctoral scholars, and students navigate the challenges of recovery from the fires.

At that time, Girl Scouts Brownie Troop 3684 was just planning its annual cookie-sales campaign. During the goal-setting meeting, the troop leaders shared information about the fire's impact and the relief fund. The girls typically use the $1 per box that goes back to the troop to fund a major outing. For 2025, they chose to make a donation and fund a more modest activity.

"We were deciding what to do with our cookie money during this fire," Madison Goins said. "This year we decided to do horse riding and donate the rest of the money to you guys."

Katelyn ultimately sold 1,200 boxes, knocking on more than 600 doors, selling cookies in front of grocery stores, and even going door-to-door in light rain.

Maddie had an idea that also led to a lot of sales: "Since my mom works at the police station, we went there. They are always hungry."

During their visit to Caltech, one of the girls asked why there was a basketball in the president's office. Rosenbaum explained that it had been signed by Nobel laureates and Caltech professors David Baltimore, Rudy Marcus, Ahmed Zewail, David Politzer, Robert Grubbs, Barry Barish, Kip Thorne, and Frances Arnold, summarizing each scientist's discovery and why it matters to humankind. He said that one of the signers combined chemistry, biology, and engineering in a way few expected to work and that another was still doing research at more than 100 years old.

"Science has a lot of wonderful people in it," he said. "If you're interested in science, you get to do fun work, and you also get to work with amazing colleagues."

More questions flew, and Rosenbaum told the stories behind mementos including a sculpture of a Drosophila mosquito, a brick from Fermi's nuclear pile in Chicago, a cannon model that he made in a machining class, a rack of slide rules, and a Mars rover model.

"What happens if something breaks on the real rover?" Ella Hatmal asked. "All of you ask such good questions," President Rosenbaum said, explaining how some instruments on Mars and in space can be repaired from Earth and some cannot.

At the end of the troop's visit, they walked to see the turtles basking in the sun at Throop Memorial Garden.

"It's horrible that the fires happened," said Madison. "But I would say it's fun to give to others."

"It feels great to give," Rebecca Wood agreed. "It feels like the breeze, like the wind."