How 'Heartbroken' Jennifer Garner Is Helping Provide 'Joy and Normalcy' for Kids During L.A. Fire Disaster

Today at 12:37 PM

"There's so much work to do," said the actress and longtime Save the Children ambassador

Jennifer Garner is helping create a safe space for kids as their families struggle with the ongoing wildfires across the Los Angeles area.

As a longtime ambassador and board member for Save the Children, the actress has past experience helping with disaster relief around the country. Now, with a devastating crisis hitting close to home in California, her volunteer work is even more personal.

"Save the Children did this inside of shelters for years as part of our disaster relief. I've witnessed it all over the country. It's crazy that it's in my own backyard now," said Garner, 52, in an interview with NBC News while showing the latest efforts in partnership with Project:Camp. "When disaster strikes, they show up with trauma-informed care for kids."

"Therapy for them is play. ... This is therapy for these kids. This is exactly what they need," she added of the pop-up camps set up in the area.

Garner explained, "Everyone is just trying to ... give children a little bit of joy and normalcy — if that's at all possible — and give parents the space to figure out where they're gonna live, where their kids are gonna go to school. There's so much work to do."

Related: How Celebrities Are Giving Back to Los Angeles Wildfire Relief

The recent fires that sparked on Jan. 7 have become the most destructive in L.A. history, with thousands of people displaced and a death toll currently set at 25.

Garner, a mother of three living in the area, recently said she felt "guilty" that her home has gone unscathed as she also "lost a friend" who "didn't get out in time." She has also pitched in by helping with World Central Kitchen in the aftermath.

In her NBC News interview, Garner said she is "heartbroken for my city." But, she added, "there's part of me that has seen this happen all over the country, and I've seen the good that shows up and I have seen the resilience that shows up."

"I'm grateful to have somewhere to be and to have this work to do. And I'm grateful to have seen it before and to feel like, 'Okay, this is my job today. I have a job today. I have something to do today.' "

Garner told MSNBC last week that she knows at least "100 friends who lost their homes" in the fires and that she felt compelled to help however she can: "I've lived in and around the Palisades for 25 years, so I just think all of us, we want to get our hands into working, somehow, to be helpful."

Click here to learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.