After visiting an empty Altadena restaurant last week, Jeff Dolen decided to get the community together to help struggling eateries.
"All I did was create a Meetup group and an Instagram page, and it's just been flooded with people joining every single day," he said. "There's definitely a need or a desire, it seems like, in the great L.A. area to come up here and volunteer, and people don't know how."
The Altadena Restaurant Crawl met for the first time Saturday night with a goal of visiting a new Altadena restaurant every week until the end of the year.
"I think that it's good to support this event because, because, you know a lot of people lost their homes in this area, so the businesses are suffering," said attendee Mahogany Zachary.
Margarita "Maggie" Cortez, who owns El Patron Mexican Restaurant on Lake Avenue, is calling the organizers "angels," saying they're helping her business, employees and they're rebuilding her beloved community.
"It's a great idea because ... life continues. We need to continue going out, and it's a way to support the community," she said.
Saturday night was proof that every bit of community support can help, and Dolen hopes the restaurant crawl will keep gaining momentum.
"We're just 20 people. It's not a lot. We're not going to make a huge dent ... tomorrow we are gone. It's the continued support that has to happen."