Bruriah senior Danielle Gardner is an athlete, captain of the Lightning basketball team and avid sports fan. For her Holocaust Museum project last year, she combined her love of sports with a history lesson, honoring the memory of the more than 500 baseball players who forfeited their careers to serve during WWII. Gardener and her classmate, Gabrielle Thurm, undertook to collect and donate 500 baseballs to children of parents in the U.S. Navy. At the end, they collected 730 balls.

Unbeknownst to Gardener when she undertook this project, her cousin, Morrie Arnovich, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Giants during his career, was one of the 500 MLB players who served in WWII.

Gardener donated the 730 balls to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. Jenny Charlson, installation marketing director for the U.S. Navy, commented, “I love that our youth today are recognizing and celebrating our veterans. Her support to the men and women of the armed forces, and their families, honors their service and sacrifice, while contributing to their morale. We appreciate the generous gift and will distribute the baseballs to support recreation events for the Department of the Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation Youth Programs of Naval District Washington.”

Baseballs were contributed by East Brunswick Little League, Highland Park Little League, Jewish Educational Center, Kean University, MLB Commissioner’s Office, New York University, Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, Somerset Patriots of the Independent Minor League, Yeshiva University and individual contributors.