El Centro Little League proceeds with season after $10k theft thanks to donations
EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - What was a nightmare for the El Centro Little League may have actually been a blessing in disguise according to one of the coaches, Chris Jansen.
In mid March, the El Centro Little League had their equipment stolen from their shed that was worth about $10,000.
They had to push back the opening ceremonies one week because they had no equipment to provide their teams.
Jansen, coach of the Little League Sun Devils, took it upon himself to start a gofundme to spread awareness and help the league and kids.
The President of the League Ivan Murillo said the community and a lot of local businesses stepped up and showed a lot of love.
According to Jansen, they raised about $3,400 through the gofundme, but also received cash and check donations through various local businesses and even new equipment.
Jansen said he believes the amount of donations they received is more than they've lost.
"I think it's a blessing in disguise honestly. This league needed so much equipment anyway and all the stuff that was there, given the pandemic happened and the league got canceled a couple times, the equipment wasn't in good shape. To get brand new equipment and be blessed with this and unfortunately it had to get stolen for that to happen but it's good because now we have new equipment for next year," Jansen said.
Jansen said they even received donations from someone in Colorado who is from El Centro and used to play in the little league.
"Someone from Colorado sent over $1,000 worth of stuff through UPS. That's like $200 in shipping. He sent bats, balls, all kinds of stuff," Jansen said.
Jansen said all of this awareness even doubled El Centro Little League's sign-ups.
"I think we had a little under 200 players before and we had to cut it off because there was so many people coming to sign up every day," Jansen said.
