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DIAMOND RESORTS INVITATIONALJanuary 14, 2018Ivan RodriguezOrlando, Florida IVAN RODRIGUEZ: That's the way it is. We've got to keep working. We've got to keep doing what we're doing. It's a tough situation, but we're getting better every day. Q. So you've gone down a few times? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I've been in Puerto Rico like three, four times already. Q. What was your initial reaction? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: I have an organization in my name that we send food and water. We sent over 3 million pounds of food and water already to Puerto Rico. Now what we're working on, we wanted to rebuild some people's homes in Puerto Rico, try to move them from dangerous areas, like from rivers and lakes, and put them in a safer place. Q. Like I said, what was your initial impression when you got there from the devastation? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: To be honest with you, I cried when I got there. Puerto Rico, when I got there, I got there a week later, and what I saw coming down on the plane, you see like a big piece of ball of fire came through and left. That's what you see in Puerto Rico. All the trees are down. Nothing was around. Water all over the place. But that's part of Mother Nature, and we just got to make sure we stay together as an island, as a country, and just try to fight hard to get back. Q. How worried were you initially? I mean, your dad still lives there. IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, they're all still there. I told them to come and be with me here in the U.S., but they prefer to stay. They prefer to stay in their homes. That's the way they grew up. They just want to stay there. But everybody's fine. They're all good. All my family, pretty much they're in Puerto Rico, so they're all good. The good thing is they're fine. Now all we've got to do is just waiting for my dad to get power back. The main thing is running with generators, and everything is fine at the house. Q. What's his name? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Jose. Q. How old is he? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Jose is 71. Q. He's set in his ways. He wasn't going to leave. IVAN RODRIGUEZ: I know. He decided to stay. That's typical from Puerto Rico. Parents always want to stay home. He decide to stay there. Q. With something like that happening just like a month or two after the greatest moment of your life maybe, or one of them, with the Hall of Fame, does that put things in perspective? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, that was great just to be there. Now what I'm doing is probably a good thing too, I guess. Just helping as many people as I can. I know we still have many, many more people to help, and we're receiving a lot of help. But my job is to just keep doing what I'm doing, just kind of collect as much as I can to send it to Puerto Rico so I can keep helping them. Q. And just how big a moment was the Hall of Fame, though? IVAN RODRIGUEZ: It was big. It was a very good moment. When I received the call last year in January and being there in Cooperstown, the ceremony, and see all the Hall of Famers behind me was a great moment. Q. And last thing. Did you‑‑ are there other athletes involved with this? There have been a lot‑‑ IVAN RODRIGUEZ: There's a lot of athletes. Posada is there, a lot of actors, Ricky Martin, guys that did a lot for Puerto Rico. They're big names, and they're all there helping. I'm not the only one. We need to continue work in Puerto Rico so we can get better. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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