Latest news with #DodgersFoundation
Los Angeles Times
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
California Science Center opens free interactive sports exhibits
There's a new interactive exhibit opening on Thursday at the California Science Center across the street from the Coliseum that will provide Disneyland-like sports entertainment for all ages, and it's free. Using censors, cameras and 21st century technology, 'Game On!' takes up 17,000 square feet formally occupied by the Space Shuttle Endeavor exhibit. It allows visitors to learn about science, sports and movement. You get to actively participate by hitting a softball against pitcher Rachel Garcia, take batting practice instructions from Freddie Freeman and kick a soccer ball into a goal while learning from Alyssa and Gisele Thompson. All are mentors. Yet there's so much more. You get to try swimming strokes, skateboarding, snowboarding, cycling. There's climbing, yoga, dancing and challenging your senses during an exhibit that tests your quickness trying to block a hockey puck. There's a basketball exhibit where you shoot a ball toward the basket and learn if your form is good or not. 'There's something for everybody,' said Renata Simril, president and CEO of the LA84 Foundation that helped provide funding along with the Dodgers Foundation and Walter Family Foundation. She's not embellishing. Parents, children, adults, teenagers — they're all going to be smiling. Don't be surprised if nearby USC students discover a new place to enjoy an hour break for fun and laughter from studying by walking over to the exhibition hall when it opens at 10 a.m. It's supposed to be open through the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but don't be surprised if popularity creates momentum to keep it around longer. 'It's really cool,' said Garcia, a former UCLA All-American softball pitcher who appears on a screen showing off her 60 mph pitch as a participant swings a real bat trying to hit an imaginary ball as a light trail moves down a rail toward the batter. 'I think it's phenomenal. It's going to get a lot of kids engaged.' Garcia even tried to hit against herself. 'I missed the first time,' she said. The batting cage where Freeman is providing hitting advice has a real soft ball and bat. It will be popular for all ages. The rock climbing exhibit still has not been completed, but participants will wear a harness as they climb toward the ceiling. While kids will be the most enthusiastic, a dinner recently held at the facility that had adults dressed in tuxedos and dresses resulted in them trying out the exhibits and acting like teenagers again. Using science to teach lessons could provide inspiration for non-sports visitors. There's sound effects throughout and most important, pushing a button doesn't just mean you watch and listen. It means you get to participate, whether hitting a baseball or softball, trying to make a free throw, trying to swim or skateboard. Don't be surprised when word gets out how fun this exhibition creates. There will be lines. The only question will it be kids lining up or adults?
CBS News
08-03-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
LA Dodgers Foundation to rebuild Altadena's Loma Alta Park
The LA Dodgers Foundation announced its plan to renew an Altadena park that was destroyed in the Eaton Fire. "These fields will stand as a testament to the community's resilience, providing a safe space for youth and their families as they continue to heal from the impacts of the Eaton Fire," CEO Nichol Whiteman said. The Dodgers Foundation and Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation plan to turn Loma Alta Park, which is on the western edge of the wildfire's footprint, into a beacon of hope as the area recovers from the disaster. The Dodgers Foundation plans to develop two "Dodgers Dreamfields" by May, in time for the final games of the Central Altadena Little League. "Parks are essential to building healthier, happier, and more connected communities, and Loma Alta Park is truly the heartbeat of this neighborhood," said Norma E. García-González, director of LA Parks and Rec. "With Loma Alta Park being the first park in Altadena to reopen, having access to these upgraded fields will create invaluable opportunities for local youth." To drum up support for the project, the Dodgers will donate proceeds from their Opening Day and Ring Ceremony Day 50/50 raffles this season. The team's home opener will be on March 27, and the ring ceremony will be held the following day. The team's charitable arm has been refurbishing fields since 2003 through its Dodgers Dreamfields program. In the last 22 years, it has invested $20 million in improving 65 fields, which have given more than 400,000 kids the space to play baseball and softball.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dodgers owners, Dodgers Foundation pledge $100M to wildfire recovery initiative
Governor Gavin Newsom, along with Dodger's co-owner Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, were together Tuesday to launch L.A. Rises, an initiative aimed at helping victims and businesses that lost everything in the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires. With hope the foremost theme of Newsom's message, as he called on both civic leaders and leaders in the private sector to come together to help rebuild fire ravaged areas of L.A., Johnson announced that Dodger's owner Mike Walter, the Walter Family Foundation and the Dodgers Foundation will contribute $100 million to wildfire recovery and rebuilding efforts. 'My focus is Altadena because those people may be left behind and I want to make sure that doesn't happen,' Johnson said at the podium. While news of the recovery initiative and funds pledged sounds encouraging, some Altadena residents, like Samera Arkel, hope some of that money does in fact make it into the once tight-knit, multi-generational community of Altadena. 'Not only have we just lost our house, but we also lost a lot of our work,' Arkel explained. 'There's a lot of jobs that were lost and that part is hard.' Arkel, like many other families in the community, has lived there for generations and says it's important that victims of the wildfires receive financial help. 'It would be nice,' she said. 'I would like to see a lot of that come to our area too. We'll know when we start seeing people getting help. It's a waiting game. It is tiring. The unknown is what's so scary.' As for Gov. Newsom, he believes the L.A. Rises initiative can be a step toward those impacted by the wildfire feeling less helpless. 'I know people feel helpless at the loss of community, the loss of identity, self, place, traditions, lifestyles – all of that. We cannot give way to hopelessness,' he said. For many homeowners, however, they say the reality is that there is a lot of red tape to deal with, a lot of standing in long lines and while they are hopeful, they are also frustrated. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
