Former Honorary Mayor Jake Steinfeld Launches Fundraising Initiative

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

When Jake Steinfeld, former honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades, helped distribute checks to families in need after the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, he was able to connect with them on a personal level: He, too, lost his home of more than 30 years.

“The people, the tears, the joy, the disbelief—thinking, ‘Is this real?’” Steinfeld said of handing the 10 checks for $5,000 each to families from Los Angeles Kings’ sponsor Mercury Insurance. “It’s so amazing to be able to do something nice.”

The charity games on Sunday, February 23, were hosted by the National Hockey League and Luc Robitaille, president of the Kings and a longtime friend of Steinfeld’s. Four teams had rosters that included celebrities, NHL alumni and hockey dignitaries, as well as first responders from Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department and Los Angeles Police Department.

For Steinfeld, he has been watching ongoing fundraising efforts that are underway across the city, including donations from the National Basketball Association, the FireAid concert on January 30 and others.

“Everyone’s heart is in the right spot here,” Steinfeld said of the efforts. “People don’t really know, ‘How do we take the money that’s committed and how do we get it to the people who need it most?’”

Steinfeld said that when handing the checks to the families, he felt “immediate kinship” after telling them he lost his home as well. He said this was a “beautiful way” to get the money to families in need.

“Like everybody else, we’re completely heartbroken,” Steinfeld said. “We’re one of the folks, unfortunately, that lost our home. It sickens me. It’s psychologically challenging. I mean, when you think about it, every species on the planet has a place to call home—whether it’s a crevasse or a beehive or a nest or a cave or an apartment, a house, a condo, you name it.”

While speaking about the loss of his home with various media outlets, Steinfeld said he was feeling inspired to do something for his community, raising funds and then designating them to a local cause in town. The answer came from his time as honorary mayor, beginning in 2014.

Steinfeld, who launched a campaign with the Palisadian-Post more than a decade ago to solicit designs for the Palisades flag while raising money for charities, has partnered with Anthony and Sue Marguleas of Amalfi Estates to reprint copies of the flag that are now on sale for $40 to raise funds for Palisades Recreation Center.

Proceeds from the sales of the flags, along with matching donations from the Marguleas and Steinfeld families, will be given to the rec center.

The flag was originally available in 2014, with a design by Sean Lim and Will Dintenfass—who met at Palisades Charter Elementary School—chosen out of more than 230 entries. Marguleas has since reprinted the flag in 2020 and 2023.

“It was really meant to show a sign of camaraderie, to show a sign of community, to show a sign of togetherness,” Steinfeld said of the flag. “There’s not a lot of places that you can say resemble a neighborhood and the Palisades is just that—it is a neighborhood, the greatest of all time.”

The flag has been reprinted with Steinfeld’s trademark at the bottom: “DON’T QUIT!” which is inspired by a poem on a plaque he received when he was 14 years old, struggling in school and at the precipice of his journey into the fitness world that changed the course of his life. The plaque hung in his home office until it burned in the Palisades fire.

Steinfeld described picking the plaque up to put in his duffel bag while evacuating, but thinking to himself that if he put it in his bag, it meant he was not going home. He put the plaque back on his desk, where it eventually burned, along with “everything else”—“the memories” and “the mementos.”

“It becomes more important, more poignant, those words: DON’T QUIT!” Steinfeld said. “Not just for me and my Steinfeld family, but for every family in the Palisades. DON’T QUIT! is not a catchy slogan. It’s a mantra. It runs through my blood.”

It is the same poem that was read by Kings’ players Darcy Kuemper and Mikey Anderson, along with Robitaille and Steinfeld, during the broadcast of the NHL charity games.

While his own rebuilding efforts are underway for the home where he raised his four kids and resides now with his wife, Tracey, Steinfeld is looking for the next way to give back to his community, which includes engaging with area doctors with expertise in mental health to connect with people who are in need of services.

“There’s so many people who are really struggling and just need a little help,” Steinfeld said. “I’m working on interesting things with some pretty amazing doctors.”

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