When members of the Port Authority police unit and a team made up of Bayonne police officers and firefighters step on to Gorman’s Field on June 24, they will be swinging for the fences to help raise funds to battle austim.
The Bayonne Department of Public Works is hosting this charity softball double-headed starting at about 5:45 p.m. near West First Street and JFK Boulevard, although the festivities will start at about 5:15 p.m. and will include raffles and other activities to help raise funds for the Simpson-Baber Foundation.
Bill Weaver, a senior caretaker at First Street Park and lifelong Bayonne resident, organized the event.
“Parents can become desperate and not know where to turn.” – Margerite S. Baber
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“Our union as a whole wants to give back to the community,” said Weaver, who hopes the games will help many families in Bayonne that are affected by autism.
Admission to the game is free.
The first game will be between Port Authority Police versus Bayonne Fire/Police, and the second game will be between ILA Local 1588 and the Bayonne DPW. Refreshments will be had after the game at Kuhl’s Tavern.
Raffle tickets are available for $5 a piece for a chance to win a 42 inch plasma TV.
Started the foundation when she saw need
Margerite S. Baber helped found the foundation when she discovered that her son Stephen was suffering from autism, and that not enough resources were available for kids with the disease, especially during the critical early years. With boys, studies show that one out of every 94 is affected with some level of autism, with girls about one out every 150.
Symptoms could include inappropriate play; extreme social withdrawal; intense discomfort with new situations, people, or surroundings; preoccupation and fixation; or behavioral problems.
Autism is a nightmare for parents, Baber said, because children don’t follow the usual progression you would expect. Caught up in their own mental loop, autistic children do not develop in the natural way – learning lessons from experience the way most children do. They can learn and develop, but, often, this is a time consuming and very frustrating effort.
Fortunately for Baber, she had time and resources most parents lacked, giving Stephen a head start toward eventual emersion into the world. Yet, she learned how families suffer.
“Parents can become desperate and not know where to turn,” she said. “It is like seeing a train wreck coming and not knowing how to stop it.”
Many autistic kids seem out of control, and refuse to respond to the usual techniques parents use in raising kids. Some autistic children may fall into a silent shell, while others may go out of control by kicking, biting, or engaging in unsafe activities.
The Bayonne school district, she soon discovered, was “light years ahead of other places,” even those posh school districts she believed would offer such assistance. Bayonne operates programs at Woodrow Wilson School geared toward autistic kids three years old or older.
While the school district supplied everything necessary to provide an autistic child with the basic education through an individual education plan, other things could be provided through private donations.
Baber also realized that there were many misconceptions about autism. So in 1996, she helped found the Simpson-Baber Foundation to provide educational opportunities for kids and educate the general public.
“Autistic kids don’t often get invited to birthday parties,” she said, using this as an example of the small things that the foundation does. The foundation also organizes self-help groups and sports teams, offers lectures, and provides tools such as the playground for autistic kids at Woodrow Wilson School.
But the most ambitious project so far is the Busy Bee Center for Children with Autism, designed to provide a place for kids 18 months to three years old.
Co-sponsored by the foundation, the Bayonne Medical Center, and the Bayonne Board of Education, Busy Bee is designed to give autistic children a head start at socializing and their parents a needed break from the nerve-racking effort at caring for these children.
“Peggy got everyone together and tried to find a place where we could put this,” said Dr. Patricia McGeehan in a past statement when the progam first began. She has since become the superintendent of the Bayonne schools. “The Board of Education couldn’t supply it. So we thought, ‘Why not ask the hospital?’ ”
Plenty of things to win
The raffles will include gift certificates or gift cards from a variety of local businesses, including Hudson Lanes Pro Shop for $25 (which also includes 10 free games of bowling), $20 from Stop & Shop, $25 from Staples, autographed footballs signed by WFANS network commentator Boomer Esiason, an autographed football jersey from No. 19 Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys, four baseball tickets from the Lakewood Blueclaws, four baseball tickets from the Brooklyn Cyclones, four baseball tickets from the Somerset Patriots (plus an appearance from their mascot Sparky), two tickets from Keansburg Water Park, two sets of four tickets to the Land of Make Believe, an autographed picture of the New York Knicks’ Chauncey Billups, a 2010 N.Y. Jets football autographed by the entire team, four tickets to see the WNBA N.Y. Liberty, $25 from Jewelry by Peter, $65 from Teezerz Beauty Salon, four tickets to a Hudson Valley Renegades baseball game, an autographed hockey puck from the New Jersey Devils hockey team, four tickets to a N.Y. Mets game, two tickets to a Staten Island Yankees game, two $40 tickets to a New Jersey Nets game for the 2011-2012 season, an autographed basketball from legendary coach Bob Hurley, an autographed basketball from Hall of Fame Coach Mike Krzyzewski, and two autographed footballs donated by NFL star (and Bayonne native) Kenny Britt.