My heart generally goes out to the people of California. As many of our long-time followers will know, we here at Nerdgeist have been out to work in the Sunshine State on numerous occasions and every time we have found its denizens to be some of the nicest and most genuine people on this planet. And I can not fathom how I would go on after such devastating fires have ravaged the state. The only bright spot is that many private organisations have stepped up and decided to help. One of which is Tokyopop.

Founded in 1997 Stu Levy, TOKYOPOP brought Asian Pop Culture to the West in a way it had never been seen before. And now they are using their influence to help those in need. The Los Angeles based publisher has announced that it has contributed $10,000 to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation’s (Binc) matching gift pool to benefit those in the book and comics industry affected by the ongoing L.A. wildfires.

This money will benefit those in the book and comics industry affected by the ongoing L.A. wildfires.

“I’ve been an Angeleno since birth, so this particular tragedy has hit home like no other,” says TOKYOPOP founder Stu Levy. “TOKYOPOP literally lives and breathes this town, and there is no one we trust more than Binc to deploy the resources to help our industry’s local shops and colleagues. As our hearts go out to those affected by the fires, we are immensely grateful to everyone who has contributed to this mission-critical community effort.”

Binc has posted a form on its website for contributors who wish to use the matching pool to double their donations. The first $55,000 in contributions will be matched dollar for dollar no matter the size. The organization offers financial assistance grants and mental health wellness programs to qualified book and comic store owners and their employees.