Las Vegas Aces collect donations for those affected by Los Angeles fires

A Las Vegas Aces season ticket holder hauled water, food and other items onto a growing pile of donations at the team’s headquarters in Henderson on Sunday.

He worked tirelessly alongside Aces players, coaches and staff to try and bring some relief to Los Angeles area residents affected by the still-burning wildfires.

When Tom Williams heard that the Aces were running a donation drive for Los Angeles residents, the longtime season ticket holder said he knew he wanted to stay and help as more cars arrived with donations in tow.

“These people have nothing,” Williams said. “Their entire lives are literally evaporated in front of them.”

From noon until 5 p.m. on Sunday, the Aces collected diapers, N95 masks, air purifiers and more — all items that would be placed in trucks to be driven to Los Angeles, where the Aces said they will work alongside the Los Angeles Sparks, the local WNBA team, to distribute the donations to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

“When we started at 12, we had lines of cars wrapped all the way around the building,” said Blair Hardiek, chief strategy officer for the Aces. “Our community has really shown their hearts today.”

Williams said that the strong turnout from the donation drive reflected the uplifting atmosphere he feels among the Aces fanbase. “They’re not even in our same state and look at this turnout for their fellow humans,” he said.

Some people thought outside the box and came with donations that the team wouldn’t have otherwise thought of, Williams said. Those items included items such as fluids for ventilators, which likely would have gone up in the flames.

“It’s showing that true human spirit,” Williams said.

Firefighters continue to race to stop the spreading wildfires amid strong winds. Since the fires first began, they have burned through more than 12,000 structures.

Officials said that 11 people have been killed, five in the Palisades Fire that has devastated the Pacific Palisades community and six in the Eaton Fire, which has swept through Altadena.

Aces Assistant Coach Larry Lewis was among the volunteers hauling boxes of water, diapers, food and clothes into the team’s loading area.

Before joining the aces in December, Lewis previously worked as an assistant coach at the University of California, Santa Barbara as well as for the Los Angeles Lakers, according to a post on the team’s website.

“It’s been really touching to see the city as I knew it change to a lot of rubble,” Lewis said of Los Angeles. “It’s hard to look at. That’s why this is easy to do,” he said, gesturing to the volunteers around him.

These volunteers consisted of Aces players, coaches, office staff and Las Vegas community members, according to Megan Gustafson, a center player for the Aces.

“We want to be there for California,” Gustafson said. “L.A. is part of our family, part of the WNBA family, and we want to make sure that we’re there for them.”