September 15, 2012: Yuma, AZ — The Yuma Bulldozers announced today their plans for assisting the victims of the recent flooding in Kivalina, Alaska.

On August 5^th, rising seas flooded the narrow spit of sand between the Chukchi Sea and a lagoon formed by the Kivalina River.  The entire village of Kivalina, with its 400 residents, lived on that narrow stretch of sand.  When the seawall, originally constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, gave way under the assault of heavy rains and high seas, residents were evacuated across the lagoon to the Kivalina Bowheads’ baseball stadium, the only structure within hundreds of miles large enough to house them.  Since then, the stadium, formerly known as the Avondale Grounds but now unofficially renamed “Sanctuary” by the new residents, has housed both the Yuma Bulldozers’ short-season A-level ballclub, the Kivalina Bowheads, and the refugees from the village of Kivalina.

Today, the Yuma Bulldozer organization and management formally invites the residents of Kivalina to make the stadium their home for as long as they wish.  Bulldozers management will make revenue and resources available to the Kivalinans to adapt and modify the ballpark to more comfortably house its new residents year round.  The stadium was originally constructed with dormitories to house 70 ballplayers—both home and visiting teams, since no housing had been available in the tiny village—and those quarters were temporarily expanded with the arrival of the Kivalina refugees.  This morning, building materials and six shiny new bulldozers were loaded on a ferry in Anchorage, Alaska, and shipped north to Kivalina.  Funding to support the relief effort and provide for the residents as they refurbish their new home inside the stadium will be made available immediately.  As soon as the Yuma Bulldozers’ season ends, volunteers from the team’s players and staff will fly to Kivalina to help with the construction.  Volunteers from the Yuma AAA and AA teams, whose seasons have just concluded, are already en route to Kivalina.

The displaced residents of Kivalina should feel welcome to make the stadium their new home until funds are made available to find and develop a new location for the entire village.  It is the hope of the Yuma Bulldozers that either the President of the United States recognizes Kivalina as a Federal Disaster Area or the Kivalina lawsuit with the oil companies is settled in Kivalina’s favor.

Until then, the Yuma Bulldozers will do everything they can to make the Kivalinans feel at home in Kivalina stadium.  A formal renaming of the stadium and christening of the new facilities will be announced later this year.