On Tuesday afternoon, former Angels and current Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel joined the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, Think Together, and San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and visited approximately 50 students at Werner Elementary School. Ebel, an Inland Empire native, helped pass out books and gifts to the students and later held storytime in the school’s outdoor courtyard. 

With a foreword by Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, Ebel read “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” written by former Major League scout, Larry Harper. The event was part of LA Reads, a joint literacy program between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation. In its fifth season, the program aims to address the literacy crisis in Los Angeles by building an excitement for reading.

“It’s very special to me to come out to my community and be able to speak to the youth about the importance of doing well in school and achieving your dreams,” said Ebel. “I know the importance of coming from a small town and showing kids that they can be anything if they put their mind to it.”

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About LA READS: To help address the literacy crisis in Los Angeles and get children excited about reading, we partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers to execute LA Reads, a literacy campaign that includes a literacy challenge, “Dodgers Reading Champions”. LA Reads and the Dodgers Reading Champions are designed to motivate youth to read and help them build a lifelong love of reading. More information about LA Reads can be found at Dodgers.com/LAReads.

About the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation:

The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation is bigger than baseball with ambitions to be the city’s premier charity.  We envision a city where everyone regardless of zip code has the opportunity to thrive.  We are tackling the most pressing problems facing Los Angeles with a mission to improve education, health care, homelessness and social justice for all Angelenos. Since 1995, we have invested more than $32 million in programs and grants to nonprofits, and fundraising has increased by 1,000% since 2012. That growth has enabled us to do more.   

In 2020, LADF was awarded ESPN’s Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year, Beyond Sport’s Sport for Reduced Racial Inequalities Collective Impact Award, and the Aspen Institute Project Play Champion. To learn more, visit www.dodgers.com/LADF, follow them on Twitter, @DodgersFdn,  Instagram, @dodgersfoundation, and like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LosAngelesDodgersFoundation.

About Think Together:

Think Together partners with schools and communities to pursue educational equity and excellence for all kids. As a nonprofit organization, Think Together innovates, implements and scales academic solutions that change the odds for hundreds of thousands of California students. Think Together’s program areas include early learning, afterschool, school support services and leadership development for teachers and school administrators. For more information, call (888) 485-THINK or visit www.thinktogether.org.

About San Manuel Band of Mission Indians:

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is a federally-recognized Indian tribe located on the San Manuel Indian Reservation near Highland, California.  San Manuel exercises its inherent sovereign right of self-governance and provides essential services for its citizens by building infrastructure, maintaining civil services, and promoting social, economic and cultural development.  As the Indigenous people of the San Bernardino highlands, passes, valleys, mountains and high deserts, the Serrano people of San Manuel have called this area home since time immemorial and are committed to remaining a productive partner in the San Bernardino region.

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(Article courtesy of LA Dodgers)

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