@WakeUpCall – Altadena Little League x Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation

Amy talks with the President of Central Altadena Little League about the work happening at two Little League fields affected by the Eaton Fire, and the restoration thanks to the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now, let's say good morning to the president of
Central Altadena Little League and a former Little League player himself,
Philip Paulorana.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning, Philip, Good morning Amy. How are you.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm great, so thanks so much for getting up early
to talk to us this morning. We know that in
Alta Dina, nine thousand homes, businesses, and other buildings were
destroyed by the wildfire. And along with homes and buildings,
parks were damaged to including the Loma Alta Park in
Alta Dina. Yes, so as people are working to clear

(00:30):
their properties and get their permits to rebuild. Some work
to rebuild the community is underway, So please tell us
what's going on at Loma Alta Park.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm super excited about it. The La Dodger Foundation is
donating to Dodger Dreamfields, and it's you know, it's something
that we've always had in our mind, like, you know,
wonder if the Dodgers would ever come up here since
we are La County Parks, and you know, unfortunately, with

(01:01):
the situation that took place, it was able to happen.
So Loma Alta is planning to open May seventeenth. They're
providing a lot of things for the youth, a lot
of things for seniors in the area that have been displaced,
to try and provide some normalcy. And they're also building
these fields to get Central Altadeena a little League a

(01:22):
place to play for the next coming years as we
rebuild Altadena.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Okay, and for the Central Altadena Little League. About how
many kids are involved in that organization.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
We have over two hundred and twenty children. We're a
small league in Altadena, but we're resilient, so it's about
two hundred and twenty kids. Luckily, West Pasadena Little League
has been able to team up with us to give
us a place to play until we get our park
back and hopefully we can continue to play there after

(01:58):
May seventeen.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Perfect, Okay, So the teams themselves are staying intact. They're
just playing at somebody else's fields because of the damage
to the fields at lom Malta exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
District seventeen has come together all the parks that offered
us as soon as this happened. They were willing to
take on our teams. They didn't know if we had
the capacity to even run a league after such a tragedy,
and our board was, like I said, very resilient, Dina strong,
and we were saying, hey, no, there's no way that

(02:32):
we're going to give up on these children. And the
parents were saying that this was their way of trying
to keep some type of normalcy in their lives. So,
you know, not to hide it from the children, but
at least give them an outlet while they're trying to
figure things out. And Little League Baseball has been able
to provide that.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, and this is just another thing we've talked before
on wake up call about how far reaching the fires
have been and how they affect absolutely every part of
your life. And I didn't even think about Little League Baseball,
but again, that's a very important thing for a lot
of the young kids coming up. So lovely that you're
getting your fields rebuilt. Did you say that, Philip, that

(03:15):
you think they'll be able to play in the fields
in May after they open or are they gonna have
to wait for a little while until things around the
fields become more stabilized.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, as of right now, we're looking at lead issues,
So those are the only things that we're concerned about
right now as far as in field soil testing, those
are the things that my membership the parents have brought
up some concern when we did mention that the field
would be available for us to play. Our season comes

(03:47):
to an end in May, at least our regular season,
then we go into tournament play with Little League, so
we're trying to make that our closing day ceremony and
then go into summer and possibly having some fall ball
played there, but we will be definitely playing their next
spring if everything goes according to plan. While people are

(04:09):
still rebuilding around because this is going to be a
process of at least two to three years, we're trying
to you know, at least see if some of the
parents can bring their children back to the burn site.
That has been a big issue because some kids have
not been back to the burn site. So we're trying
to be respectful of that and making sure that we

(04:31):
are providing you know, the sources for them, whether it's counseling,
whether it's going to you know, any of the after
school programs. Are slowly initiating some type of return before
they just get thrusted in and say hey, you know,
because they're going to think, oh, everything is better, right

(04:52):
because the park is going to be you know, brand new,
and things like that, so we don't want to deceive them,
you know, think making them think that everything is back
to normal when it's not.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Just one one piece of normalcy. And Phil, if this
affects you so personally, I know, because you lost your
home in the.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
FI Yes, yes, I lost my home. My cousin lost
his home. Friends that I've known for over forty years,
parents lost their home. People that have moved back. The
majority of our league lost their homes. Even the ones
that are still standing our damage to a point where
they are displaced because of all the smoke damage and

(05:35):
insurance companies are trying to pull a fast one on that.
But for the most part, we have been receiving a
lot of help, but it's just going to be a
slow process. So people are still struggling to process it,
and you know, all we can do is continue to fight,
stay strong. Those that are selling, we understand, you know,

(05:57):
we're one of our mottos is Altadena is not for sale.
But we understand that there were so many elderly people
that they just can't they can't stay around. You know,
it's not worth it for them to try and rebuild,
and we understand that, but we want to try and
make sure that those people are at least giving some
of the local folks an opportunity to make a bid

(06:20):
on those homes instead of selling to big corporations that
might come in and try and monopolize in the area.
But other than that, you know, we're optimistic. We see
the silver lining, Dina Strong. We're going to be bigger
and better. But right now we still need assistance for
those that are out there. They can, you know, go

(06:41):
check out our gofundmeeds or just try and provide any
service that they can find locally to help the people
that are on the ground that are still.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
In need, and the need remains great. Fill up with Polerana.
Thank you so much, and we appreciate what you're doing
because again you're you've had your complete life upended and
that you're still devoting time and effort to the kids
and making sure that they have a little bit of
normoucy coming their way. That's that's amazing. And thanks to
the Dodgers Foundation too. The president of Central Altadena Little League,

(07:11):
Philip Plorana, thanks so much. Good luck to you.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Thanks all right, take care all.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Right, isn't it amazing? Like I said, we just there's
so much stuff that we don't even realize how far
reaching these fires are. And I love to see the
communities coming together and saying we're getting through this. It's
big time amazing.