An appeal to the community for help has yielded far more than extra balls and bases for Gold Valley Little League.

League organizers say they are overwhelmed with gratitude for the support that began pouring in after they learned that damage incurred in a New Year’s Eve fire would not be covered by league insurance.

Ruled an arson by police, the fire at the fields located inside the Gold Hill Sports Park caused some $30,000 in damage, destroying a 10-foot-by-20-foot storage shed and most of the league’s bats, balls, bases, score-keeping equipment and other supplies.

League president Megan Droesch learned in mid-March that the league insurance, provided by Little League International, would not cover the damages.

Left scrambling to collect enough gear for the 99 kids whose season began April 6, Droesch said she was taken aback when social media posts and news reports of the damages yielded an outpouring of support.

Droesch said donated funds, replacement items and offers of labor and supplies have come in from up and down theWest Coast.

Steve Olsrud, owner of Sherm’s Markets, helped facilitate a $20,000 grant through the Olsrud Family Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation.

Lucas J. Main Construction in Grants Pass offered to rebuild the lost storage shed, covering materials and labor.

GoFundMe donations tallied $3,555, but Droesch said some $15,000 in checks had been sent directly to the league.

“We have had so many people reach out that didn’t wanna give through GoFundMe, because they take a fee,” she said, noting that additional large donations included $2,000 from the Alaska Community Foundation, which has ties to the Rogue Valley, and $3,000 from the Herschel Mack Trust.

Herschel Mack, Droesch pointed out, was the son of Gilbert Mack, for whom the baseball fields are named.

“We’ve had so many donations. … We have reached more than we ever thought we would get,” Droesch said.

“It’s just under $40,000, not counting the expense of the building that Lucas Main wants to build. We’ve just been really overwhelmed by all the support.”

In addition to cash and service donations, Droesch said Affordable Flush and Southern Oregon Sanitation donated their services.

Cascade Athletic Supply posted a list of needed items for the league, as well, which resulted in even more donations.

“Affordable Flush donated their toilets for the year to save us some money, and Southern Oregon Sanitation donated a dumpster to do the cleanup for the burnt remnants of our old building. They also donated trash service to us for the season. It’s a few thousand dollars saved between all those things,” Droesch said.

Brian Hallin, field maintenance manager and board member, said it was a relief for volunteers that the season kicked off April 6 with enough equipment for the teams to play ball.

“We have been extremely blessed in terms of not only our community. It’s just been all for the kids, as it should be,” Hallin said.

“To be honest, I didn’t think it was necessarily a no-go, in terms of the community stepping up to help, but I thought things were going to look drastically different for our kids. It felt like it was gonna be, ‘OK, you lived in a house but now you live in a tent.’

Donations aside, Hallin said league parents and community members had rolled up their sleeves to help with everything from fire cleanup to offering to pitch in wherever help is needed.

“We have some amazing parents. One brought a tractor to get rid of the burned building … and he’s an electrician so he took care of our whole electric box.

“The company that we rented the storage container from” — Medford Mobile Storage — “is charging us, like, $130 a month and they’re supposed to cost $300 to $400 a month … It’s just been really awesome to see the community support flowing in.”

Hallin and Droesch said they planned to look into better insurance.

“We obviously can’t have this happen again,” Hallin said.

“People have said you should get an attorney … but the only person who ever wins in this kind of case is the attorney. AIG is pretty big, so we would spend more on legal.”

All told, Droesch said she was grateful that the community had helped turn a negative into a positive for nearly 100 ball players.

“As much as I hate to say it, and as much of a headache it all has been, it’s turned into kind of a blessing in disguise,” she said.

“Once we get all the fire stuff done, we’ll finally be able to do some of these repairs we haven’t been able to do because we haven’t ever been able to keep our heads above water.”