On Thursday afternoon, at the Settebello Pizzeria off North Lake Avenue in Pasadena, Michele Judd was busy. Donning a “NASADENA” shirt, she greeted people as they walked in.

Quickly, more and more people poured into the pizzeria — many of them meeting for the first time.

But this was no normal meet-up.

After checking-in with Judd and receiving a colored name tag, they began filling the booths, sharing their experiences during the Eaton fire.

They all seemed to know Judd from somewhere, whether it was her neighborhood dog-walking group, her former workplace at JPL, or the multiple book clubs she is a member of.

Nearly all the 40 people who showed up to Settebello had lost their homes in the Eaton fire.

Some came from neighboring towns, like La Cañada Flintridge, to see how they could best support victims, and handle survivor’s guilt.

In less than 48 hours, Judd and her fellow dog-walking partner, Chelsea Cartwright, decided to pull together a unique type of support group, called Order of the Phoenix, after both of them had lost their homes in the Eaton fire.

The name, which derives from the Harry Potter series, literally describes them as rising from the ashes.

Its purpose is to provide a forward-looking support system for those affected by the wildfires, and to help each other build a path forward.

As people shuffled in and got settled, Judd and Cartwright warmly opened up the group.

“Hello, people in Altadena, and people who love Altadena,” Judd said.

The group shared laughter and smiles as Judd assured that it was OK to not know what day of the week it was, or to “be a hot mess right now.”

“Give yourself grace,” Judd recommended.

“We are using the resources spared to be able to help our community,” Cartwright stated. She also validated feelings around losing material possessions in the fire, describing the difference between a house and a home.

Cartwright, who had lost the art she had worked on throughout her life, stated that these were “the things that made your home special.”

Between dealing with insurance companies and applications to receive aid, you can “feel like a switchboard operator,” Cartwright said.

But the Order of the Phoenix group wasn’t necessarily going to focus on the administrative part of the recovery process. Instead, it would check up on one another’s wellness every month, and provide a space where people could consistently support one another.

For example, one of the core aims of the group is to show up on day one of construction at each other’s new home.

That wouldn’t be a problem for the Altadena community, in particular. Jaime and Hallie Abarca, who knew Judd through the JPL book club, and John Williams from the Center for Restorative Justice attended. They all described how tight-knit Altadena is.

“Nowhere’s felt more like home,” Hallie Abarca, who moved to Altadena less than a year ago, said. Both Hallie and Jaime were among the nearly 1,000 JPL employees who had to evacuate their home.

John, who’s been meeting with local community groups, assured that despite the fire, people want to stay in Altadena. Judd and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix group echoed the same sentiment.

Then members of the same colored name tag embraced one another and stated what they were thankful for, leading to long conversations with former strangers who could relate to what they were going through.

“I want (this group) to send so much love, that they remember this several years later,” Judd said.

Judd expressed her fear that the diversity of the Altadena would change after the fire, and that real estate developers would buy up all the land. But she affirmed that she was “not going anywhere.” With this group, through face-to-face meetings, their community would persevere.

She recalled a time when her dog-walking group got her out of the house and walking after she went through knee surgery last year. “When your neighbor gives you extra lemons from her lemon tree, or takes your trash bins back in when they know you’ve been away — that’s Altadena,” Judd said.