JM Eagle Continuing to Help Los Angeles Recover Following the Devastating LA Fires by Rebuilding Five LA Firefighter Homes in 2026
By Jill Painter Lopez
LOS ANGELES — Golf is so much more than just a sport. It can be a vehicle for change, charitable contributions, inspiration and fun.
The JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro continues to be a leader in supporting LPGA Tour players and meaningful donations to charitable organizations. Last year, JM Eagle donated $6.5 million to the fire relief efforts in Los Angeles after the devastating Palisades and Eaton Fires. At media day on Monday, March 9, it was announced Walter and Shirley Wang will build new homes for five firefighters who lost their houses while they were battling the Fires.
It’s another way Shirley Wang, CEO of Plastpro, and Walter Wang, CEO of JM Eagle, have found to give back to the Los Angeles community they live in as well. Walter Wang Jr. — executive director of the Wang Family Foundations and JM Eagle’s executive vice president of sales, discussed that during the tour’s media day at El Caballero Country Club. He and his mom made the surprise announcement about the homes.
“I think it's really important to understand that this is our home. I went to high school here. I live here,” Walter Wang Jr. said at Monday’s media day. “My wife and I, we were here during the fires, checking our phones and getting the texts that say, ‘Hey, you might need to evacuate.’ I called my dad, I called my mom and said, ‘So, I want to go to your house. What do you want to save because we're packing the car, putting everything in the trunk. What is valuable to you?.’
“I think going through that experience, we realized that the firefighters are there day in, day out, at night, 24/7 fighting these fires and leaving their homes,” continued Wang. We realized that we need to support. We need to help rebuild LA. We need to help the first responders do their jobs. That is what we have decided to do with the family's generous donation.”
LAFD captain Jerry Puga, who lives in Pasadena, will receive one of the new-build homes covered by the Wangs. Ground has been broken on all five homes.
“When it first happened, my thoughts were in a year, year and a half, I'm going to be back. Well, that's not the case,” said Puga at Monday’s media day. “The insurance money that we had and the cost of rebuilding, it's been like, ‘What are we going to do because the numbers just are not adding up?’ With the help that they have given us, we all have been able to proceed forward. We are all in the planning phase. All five families are more or less in the same area. The hope is that all of us will start building soon, and we hope that sometime next year we all will all be back home.”
The Wangs have stepped up in the aftermath of the devastating fires, and Chris Stine, president of the Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association, helped present a plaque made of real fire hose and painted in colors of the American flag. It will be displayed in the Wang’s offices.
LPGA players Andrea Lee, Allisen Corpuz and Alison Lee all came for the media day despite jet lag from their recent Asia events. They wouldn’t have missed it. This tournament stop was named tournament of the year for the 2024 season, and there’s many activations and a lucrative $3.75 million purse that makes this a must-have on their schedules.
Andrea Lee lives about 40 miles away and won’t have to battle crazy L.A. traffic as the Wangs will once again cover hotel costs so players can stay nearby.
“It helps so much. Walter and Shirley have done an incredible job growing this event over the past four years, and we're so grateful for everything that they do,” Lee said. “This is a tournament that I look forward to every year now. It's a home game for me. I live about an hour away down in Hermosa Beach, where I grew up. Coming back here and playing in front of a home crowd, in front of a lot of friends and family who typically don't get to see me play in person, is really exciting. It's just always a week that I really look forward to."
Major winner Corpuz, who played collegiate golf at USC and now lives in Nevada, looks forward to this one as well. She and Andrea Lee already each have a top-10 finish this season. She helped run the popular Junior Golf Day at the tournament last year.
“I think every tour player now has some story of being a young girl and being able to attend an event,” Corpuz said. “For me, I was 6 years old in Hawaii at the Fields Open, just collecting a bunch of signatures after the 18th hole. You just kind of grow up and go to an event and even before you're watching the golf, you're interacting with the players. Everyone out here is so nice. On the other side of it, giving the signatures to all of these junior golfers…hopefully we can inspire the next generation. It's always just really cool for me to kind of feel like it's a full-circle moment where I was inspired by all the women golfers. And now hopefully I'm able to contribute to the legacy.”
Alison Lee is returning after giving birth to her son, Levi, last year. She grew up in nearby Valencia and played at UCLA, so it’s special to be back, especially since she’s made Nevada her home base.
“I had a baby last year in April. He is now 10 months. I've played a few events here and there. I actually was planning to make my LPGA return in May. But I feel pretty good about my game,” Alison Lee said. “I feel like I'm very, very close to getting my full strength back. My game is very close to where I want it to be. I'm going to be playing my first LPGA event right here at El Cab, so I'm really excited about it.”
