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PEQUANNOCK - Native author seeks baseball equipment
(by Stephen Janoski - Staff Writer - November 12, 2008)
PEQUANNOCK - Township resident and former Suburban Trends carrier Kerri Conkling will be appearing at the North Boulevard School on Nov. 18 with co-author Debbie Moldovan to lend support for their new book, called “A Glove of Their Own.”
The two authors will be hosting assemblies throughout the day that they hope will “encourage children to follow their dreams.” On top of this, they will be supporting an equipment drive, taking place all week at the school, with bins outside accepting new and gently used baseball and softball equipment.
Conkling, along with co-authors Debbie Moldovan and Lisa Funari-Willever, wrote the book, which was released in October. The book is a fictional story about a group of underprivileged kids who play baseball even though they don’t have any equipment.
The equipment drive, they said, is in the spirit of giving back that the book promotes.
After the authors’ appearance at the school, they will collect the equipment and bring it to “Pitch in for Baseball," a Philadelphia-based organization that will distribute the equipment throughout the world to those in need.
The book
“It’s about kids that play for love of the game,” Conkling said, “and in the end discover a generous bystander (who was a baseball coach) that ends up sharing used equipment with them. They learn the importance of giving back, and decide that when they get older, they’re going to do the same.”
Conkling said that the story was born out of a birthday party for Moldovan’s son a few years back.
“Her young son said that what he wanted for his birthday was a party where everyone came with old baseball equipment and played, and then, at the end, donated it. It was super sweet, and she was inspired,” Conkling said.
Conkling said that Moldovan wrote a poem about the incident, but forgot about it until she met Conkling through helping out with school events for their kids in the town of Basking Ridge, where they both now reside.
“Over time, we both discovered that we had this love of writing. One day, we shared what we had with each other, and that’s when we took that piece, ripped it apart, and put it back together again. And then we went to get it published,” Conkling said.
Conkling said that it was her childhood dream to get published, and being able to do that as well as benefit a charity made it even better.
“I’m an at-home mom, so kids are the best part of my life. And this idea that we can actually get sports equipment by selling this book, and give it to kids around the world who really need it, is great,” said Conkling, who came up through the Pequannock school system.
Proceeds from the sales of the books will be donated to organizations that make sure children across the nation have “a glove of their own.”
For each book sold, $3 will be given to the North Boulevard School library, and 30 cents per book will be given to “Pitch in for Baseball.”
Many large companies have lent their support to the project, such as Rawlings, Louisville Slugger, and Modell’s Sporting Goods. Several professional baseball players have also come out in support, such as Sean Casey, Robb Quinlan, and future-Hall of Famer Craig Biggio.
“We have a family friend name Bob Salomon who has been driving where this book is headed in terms of nonprofits, sponsors and athletes endorsing it. Even though we wrote the story, he’s had the vision of giving back to charity,” said Conkling.
“A portion of every book goes to three different charities right now: Good Sports, Pitch in for Baseball, and Sports Gift,” she said.
Conkling also said that the friendship with the Quigley family, which belongs to North Boulevard’s HSA, helped set the event up.
“We’re going to be doing a whole bunch of things. The equipment drive will happen simultaneously, and there will be a writing contest where teachers are asking their students to write about an act of kindness that they’ve witnessed. When we come to read, they’ll name the winners,” Conkling said.
The winners will eat lunch with the authors, and the authors will then read the winners' entries during the assemblies where they speak to the students.
Moldovan will then give a slide show on the process of how the book came to be.
Conkling said that the intent is to try and “inspire and motivate them to share their own ideas.”
“We want to tell them to always follow their dreams. It’s important to remind kids that they can make a difference every day, because they can,” said Conkling.
The equipment drive
Township police officer Lt. Dan Dooley, whose children attend North Boulevard, is helping coordinate the equipment drive.
“Effective, on Monday, the bins are out there, and we don’t want to isolate this to just residents whose children attend North Boulevard,” Dooley said.
The equipment drive will be taking place until Nov. 18, with the bins at the school. Items to be taken are things like fielding gloves, youth aluminum bats (especially under 21 ounces), catchers’ mitts and gear, batting helmets, new baseballs and softballs, soft cover balls for tee ball, rubber baseball cleats, youth uniforms, umpire protective gear, equipment bags, sets of baseballs, batting tees and pitching machines.
Conkling said that after their presentation to the students, she and Moldovan will bring the donated items to Philadelphia and present them to Pitch in for Baseball.
For more information on the book, the charities, or how to donate, go to agloveoftheirown.com.
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