7-year-old fan affected by Palisades Fire surprised with gifts from the Dodgers – NBC Los Angeles
[ad_1]
A 7-year-old who lost everything to the Palisades Fire, including her beloved Dodgers memorabilia, was surprised with a kind gesture from her favorite team and player.
“I am so happy!” said Poppy after receiving her new Dodgers jersey.
It was one of several gifts from the Los Angeles Dodgers, including a signed bat and signed jersey from catcher Will Smith.
“I was watching games, and she was just a newborn,” said Erika Fiksdal, Poppy’s mother.
Fiksdal says receiving special treatment from the “Boys in Blue” and current World Series Champions was emotional for her and her daughter, who has been a Dodgers superfan since she was a baby.
Poppy lost her most prized photo of Smith from the World Series and all of her belongings when her home burned in the Palisades fire in January.
It is Fiksdal’s childhood home.
“I’ve been raising Poppy there in my childhood room with my closet walls that I painted in high school, and she was going to the schools I went to and playing in the parks that I played in,” said Fiksdal.
She says a family friend reached out to the online sports platform and retailer, Fanatics, about their loss.
The company has been connecting fans affected by the fire to their beloved local teams, including Poppy.
In a post on the Fanatics Instagram page, catcher Will Smith signed a photograph of himself, replacing the one Poppy had lost, expressed condolences for Poppy and her family, and invited her to Opening Day.
Poppy walked into the stadium last week with her new Clayton Kershaw jersey and sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with the crowds.
“It does feel normal that they’re back, and they’re playing, and we can sit down and watch a game,” Fiksdal said. “Just being in Los Angeles and all of the people who are affected, but also all of the people who have supported all of the strangers, and friends, and family, and all of the people that we’ve met, and then thinking about the enormity of it, and how many people just like us have been affected. That is a really powerful thing.”
Making the challenging times now and ahead a little bit better, one Dodgers game at a time.
[ad_2]
[publish_date
