Disney Entertainment Television Opens its Wardrobe Warehouse to Employees Affected by the Los Angeles Fires
To help those who lost their homes in the Southern California wildfires, Disney Entertainment Television invited employees, production crew, and their families to their wardrobe warehouse in North Hollywood.
There, affected residents were allowed to take new or gently used clothing and shoes from recent Disney productions for free.
“Most companies are not sitting on an entire warehouse full of wardrobe — some of which has been barely used, if it’s been used at all,” said Heidi Chong, Vice President of Production Shared Services for Disney Entertainment Television.


Heidi Chong, Vice President of Production Shared Services for Disney Entertainment Television.
“We really want to emphasize to the families: ‘If you come here, we’ve already organized everything for you. It’s all on display on the racks. You can find what you need.’ There are no limits to the amounts that people are getting; it’s really about what they need.”
Coming Together As a Disney Family
Belen Buenrrostro, an asset manager at Disney Entertainment Television, had the idea to open the warehouse. After seeing the devastation in her community, she emailed her manager.


Belen Buenrrostro, Manager, Asset Management, Disney Entertainment Television. Photo: Disney
“This might be a long shot,” she wrote, “But can we make it happen?”
“The turnaround was so quick, but we had an outpouring of support,” Buenrrostro said. “It was nice to see us all come together as a Disney family to help everybody.”
Various teams came together to help members of the Disney family who lost everything. These included Disney Entertainment Television, Global Security, and Communications.


Walt Disney Company
Disney Entertainment Production staffed the warehouse over the weekend, and the event was ready to go by Monday. More than 80 Disney VoluntEARS unpacked boxes, sorted items, and prepared to help those who needed support.
“Disney has been coordinating a lot of resources through our Employee Care & Support team,” Chong explained. “We worked with that team to identify which families had been impacted and should be invited to this event.”
Helping Those in Need
Invitations to affected Cast Members and employees were sent out earlier this week. To make things easy, they were asked to register online and select a convenient shopping window. Accommodations were made for those in more urgent need.


Photo: Disney
“We really want to make the experience as easy and friendly as possible,” Buenrrostro said. “So we gave everyone a rack and assigned them a buddy shopper. We also set up a play area for the kids, where we stream Disney+ movies and offer games and snacks.”
The Disney Entertainment Television warehouse held wardrobes from recent productions, including Genius: MLK/X, grown-ish, The Old Man, Station 19, UnPrisoned, and Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.


Photo: Disney
“It’s very heartwarming to see everybody find things they like,” Buenrrostro said. “We had one family that’s really into vintage clothing, and they were so excited that we offer more than just new, store-bought items.”
A Way to Help
According to Buenrrostro, the warehouse had over 250 racks of clothes, and they were able to obtain another 50 racks in one day.


Photo: Disney
“Everybody wants to participate and wants to help those around them, but it’s hard to know how,” she said. “This was very tangible. There was real work to do, whether that was packing bags or unboxing new clothing items, and today we’re seeing that make a real impact on individuals’ lives at a time when everything feels overwhelming.”
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