A 12-year-old Huntington Beach boy who suffered severe injuries after a helicopter crash in October was presented Saturday with a $10,000 check from a charity foundation run by rock music Hall of Famer Sammy Hagar and The Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach.
The check presentation took place while Oliver Holland and his family were on a staycation hosted by the resort in Huntington Beach. While at dinner at Hagar’s restaurant the Cabo Wabo Beach Club the family was presented with the check during a Facetime call with Hagar.
“There’s so many things that you can do to help others that’s so important and I would hope that maybe this experience would help you do that. It’s what my family does and all the restaurants we have,” Hagar said to Oliver.
Hagar said he wanted to have an influence on Oliver and his friends to help others when they get older — to think of others when he comes across someone in need and to remember that someone helped him once, he told Oliver.
When asked if he liked to help others, Oliver told Hagar that he did.
Oliver suffered a collapsed lung and a brain bleed when a helicopter malfunctioned and crashed onto him.
“I just got out of the hospital last month and like I’m already playing like a little bit of sports during school,” Oliver told Hagar.
The helicopter, part of the Cars ‘N Copters’ event, went down shortly after 2 p.m. on Oct. 11 near the oceanfront Hyatt resort. Video shows the chopper spinning before it crashed into a stairwell attached to a pedestrian bridge connecting the hotel to a beachfront parking lot.
Oliver was placed into a medically induced coma after surgery and awoke on his 12th birthday in late October.
He told Hagar he had been in the hospital for 24 days.
“This was an amazing gift from Sammy and we are super grateful and I just want to say again, thank you to everyone who donated on the GoFundMe and sent me so much love,” said Madeline Ashwell, older sister to Oliver.
The donations made an big impact on the family and Oliver’s recovery process she said.
“I feel your guys love and thank you,” she said.
Oliver told Hagar he either wanted to be an engineer or a professional athlete when he grows up but he wasn’t quite sure.
Hagar’s non-profit foundation, The Hagar Family Foundation, has given more than $4 million to charities focused on food relief and children’s causes since its inception in 2008. He has also committed to donate the majority of his personal profits from the restaurant to children and families in need.
Hagar, also known as the Red Rocker, grew up in Fontana. The musician and songwriter was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen in 2007.
Hagar’s charity work has extended to his hometown, the Stage Red Fontana Youth Music Foundation which held its first gala at Stage Red in October. The theater backed by Hagar is the former Center Stage Theater in downtown Fontana which closed in August 2022.
“You’re helping me spread the word that the holiday season is the perfect time for giving and helping those in need,” Hagar said to Oliver. “And that’s what you and I just did.”
Contributing photographer Steven Georges contributed to this story.