"The tennis ball, an undisturbed artifact of a horrific wildfire, sat just off the Pacific Palisades court and was so covered in gray ash that its Penn logo was only faintly visible. Pam Shriver studied it the way she might a precious archaeological discovery. "I find that so moving," the Hall of Fame tennis player said. "The ball survived." All of this is intensely personal to Shriver, as it is to millions of Southern Californians."
"Normalcy has been in short supply during the past eight months, and Shriver has been keenly aware of that living amid the cleanup of the Palisades and touring the devastation of Altadena. It's so meaningful to her, almost poetic, that the sport courts escaped relatively unscathed. "The nets, the wind screens, the fencing is gone," she said. "But the courts themselves are intact. There's something symbolic about that. It's the promise of resilience.""
"Shriver and friend Ilise Friedman are the driving force behind Village Rising, a foundation created to revitalize communities disrupted by crisis or disaster. Friedman, whose background is in fundraising, started the nonprofit in 2018 in response to the Woolsey fire, and later helped victims of the Getty fire in 2019 before pausing the operation during the pandemic."
An ash-covered tennis ball survived a Pacific Palisades wildfire, symbolizing resilience. Pam Shriver, evacuated but with her home spared, witnessed widespread loss among neighbors. Shriver aims to use tennis and her influence to help rebuild communities most affected by the catastrophic January fires, promoting courts as places that bring people together, restore normalcy, get families moving, and foster resilience. Shriver partnered with fund-raiser Ilise Friedman to lead Village Rising, a nonprofit that revitalizes communities disrupted by crisis. Friedman founded the group in 2018 after the Woolsey fire, aided Getty fire victims, paused during the pandemic, and restarted after January donations.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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