
Hugs, smiles and clothing donations filled the UCLA Luskin Conference Center lobby last Wednesday evening when the Bruin softball team, the most decorated in the NCAA, handed out athletic apparel to guests displaced by the Southern California fires.
The team members and staff brought over two dozen boxes of T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants, many of which had “UCLA softball” printed on them, in various styles and sizes.
Displaced residents who have permanently lost their homes due to the fires and evacuees who still could not access their homes found community as those in need tried on clothing and met up with mutual aid law enforcement from UC Merced, members of UCLA Fire and the softball team.

“We all take such huge pride in representing the four letters, and I think (the event) really emphasized that pride,” infielder and third-year undergraduate student Jordan Woolery said. “UCLA is such a special place to me and (it) was an opportunity to show how we can come together for a purpose greater than ourselves.”
“I wanted to let them all know that people have their backs in this time of turmoil. This can be a really isolating time for those who were displaced, so showing up means more than we can even understand,” she added.
Woolery said the team was only on the second day of practice for the season when the fires started in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7. The team members fanned out to friends’ and families’ homes in areas south of Los Angeles. They held practices in Long Beach for two days and returned to UCLA for practice on Jan. 13.

“I think as a team, we were able to develop an attitude of more gratitude and giving,” Woolery continued. “Especially as (the) season nears, we often get caught up in tunnel vision of what’s ahead for us, but this gave us a chance to slow down and give back and help those who have been deeply impacted by the fires.”
Woolery said it was also unexpected how the people staying at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center had built their own community.
Mary Petersen, class of ’57 and membership chair of the UCLA Retirees Association, lost her home in the Palisades Fire.
She worked at the UCLA Anderson School of Management for 40 years and has been connected to women’s sports as a fan and donor for a long time. The first few nights after evacuating, she stayed in the apartment of a gymnastics team member who even insisted she sleep in her bed.

“People tell me I am strong,” Petersen said. “Five and a half years ago, I recovered from a traumatic injury where I had been in a coma. My niece texted me that she saw my strength then and sees it now. She wrote to look forward and don’t look back. You have your memories. It was very touching to me. Certainly, I have had a great deal of support from my Bruin family.”