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2015 Charitable Goals Reached

06/17/2015, 12:15pm EDT
By Mike Mazzolla

WWAST & Scholarship Award

As a league, I've always considered us more than a Sunday baseball league. This season, you all have helped to prove me right.

This year, with our combined efforts we have raised more than $16,000 for charity. While the end results are certainly gratifying, there will always be a desire to do more and find ways to help get our guys out there volunteering for worthy causes. 

The Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team's visit was pretty incredible. For those who participated, volunteered or even came to watch, I am sure you felt a level of pride that came from being part of this special event. While media coverage was awesome, the real stars were our special guests and what they have overcome in their lives. Hosting an event like that really allowed us, as a league, to show New Jersey that we are more than just Sunday baseball. With over 1,500 active players, we banned together for a cause and helped unite a community in the process. Through donations, sponsorships and merchandise sales, the New Jersey Amateur Baseball League was able to raise nearly $15,000. Those efforts alone speak volumes for the type of players we have in our league. While this event was special for the league to host, the ability to have some of our players who are veterans compete against WWAST was really where the magnitude of this event took shape. I personally would like to thank our vendors, sponsors, players and event donors for their unbelievable support and help making this such a huge success. 

In addition, this year I challenged you all to help me kick start an initiative very dear to my heart. This Spring, we officially launched the NJABL Scholarship Award. Due to the overwhelming interest and donations, we were able to award Columbia High School senior Eric Lax a $750 scholarship award in the leagues name. Having over 125 players contribute towards this was awesome, and I hope that as we move forward we can continue such opportunities within our baseball family. Consider this the first of many scholarship awards in the future. 

So while the calendar of charity events have already occurred for 2015, keep an eye out for new opportunities in the coming months. While this was certainly the first major charity events we've done as a league since our league kickoff in 2013, they certainly will not be the last. 

Tag(s): Blog