The South Amboy High School baseball program, which has raised $24,000 for charity over the last six years through its annual Crew Cuts For A Cause fundraiser, donated money from its most recent event to The Marisa Tufaro Foundation, the Teamwork Unlimited Foundation and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
In previous years, the Governors donated to the family of Shane O’Donnell, the toddler son of former Middlesex High School baseball coach Mike O’Donnell who is winning a battle with neuroblastoma, and to current Woodbridge High School senior Ben Lepisto, who is winning a fight with medulloblastoma.
The entire community of South Amboy, whose population does not exceed 9,000 residents, seems to rally behind the baseball program’s efforts, which also includes its extensive involvement with Riley’s Touch-A-Truck, a fundraiser for a scholarship fund in memory of the late Riley Rone.
A four-year starter on the South Amboy varsity team, Riley died in a motorcycle accident on May 31, 2016, less than a year after he graduated from high school. The Touch-A-Truck event has raised $46,000 in three years, a testament to the beloved former three-sport athlete, who also played basketball and soccer.
South Amboy players and the entire staff, led by head coach Dan Poulsen, join the Rone family – including Riley’s siblings Ryan, Randi and Regan – to help run Riley’s Touch-A-Truck. During the event, families can make a donation, which allows their children to touch, climb and take pictures on or near any of the 75 trucks that gather on the high school grounds.
The Governors volunteer to set up tents, pick up garbage cans, sell tickets and help out any other way that might be necessary.
“They are a terrific family,” Poulsen, a 2000 South Amboy graduate, said of the Rones, noting Riley’s parents, Hugh and Barbara, supported Poulsen when he was playing baseball at Bloomfield College. “They always donated to our booster club. They would do anything to help.”
Inspired by St. Baldrick’s fundraisers, in which participants shave their heads to raise money for childhood cancer research, Poulsen said he and his players decided in 2014 that they wanted to conduct a similar fundraiser of their own to help others. With a couple of the Governors going into the military, the team decided on Crew Cuts For A Cause, in which players approach relatives, friends and local businesses for donations.
“We recognized other schools doing things with their guys to show camaraderie and develop a team mindset,” Poulsen said of the impetus for starting his program’s own fundraiser. “It (being part of a ball club) is more than just a game. There’s a lot of character building through this.”
Poulsen said he and his players are moved emotionally upon receiving letters of gratitude from children and their families at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, which has been a recipient of South Amboy’s Crew Cuts For A Cause fundraiser each of the past six years.
The Broadway’s Image Barbershop in South Amboy donates its facility and staff to cut the hair of South Amboy’s players.
“We’ve had a lot of help from them since the get-go,” Poulsen said of the barbershop. “They’ve been tremendous.”
In addition to its volunteerism with Riley’s Touch-A-Truck and its fundraising through Crew Cuts For A Cause, the Governors also raise money for the Teamwork Unlimited Foundation through their participation in the annual Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge.
“We are impressed with the amazing effort of their program, especially for a school of their size,” said Mike Garlatti, whose Teamwork Unlimited Foundation runs the Autism Awareness Baseball Challenge. “The South Amboy program has been a huge supporter of Teamwork Unlimited.”
In addition to its community service, Poulsen’s program has adopted and befriended 5-year-old Michael Grzankowski as a team member.
Michael was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe congenital cardiac defect that requires a series of three open-heart surgeries to correct.
Michael underwent his first reconstructive operation six days after he was born, and had his second repair six months later. Michael underwent his third open-heart surgery on May 31, 2018 at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which pioneered the life-saving intervention.
Michael is thriving and remains a beloved member of Poulsen’s ball club.