Buy Bagels, Help Support Toms River Field Of Dreams Project

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A father of a special-needs child is spearheading a campaign to build a recreation complex for special-needs kids in Toms River is getting an assist from a local bagel shop.

Bob's Bagel Cafe in Toms River is holding a weekend-long fundraiser for the Toms River Field of Dreams, the proposal being led by Christian Kane, a Toms River man whose young son was severely injured in a car accident in 2012.

In a video posted to YouTube, Kane said he seeking help from anyone and everyone, from financial assistance to hands-on labor for the construction. The project initially was pitched for Silver Bay Elementary School but the township has proposed building it at Bey Lea Park, on Bay Avenue.

The hope, Kane said, is to create a facility that offers special needs children a unique experience, with baseball as its centerpiece.

"Imagine watching your son or daughter, who physically can't be mobile in a wheelchair on dirt, be able to play a two-inning baseball game?" Kane said in the video. From baseball, the children could go and play on a playground that's accessible to children who use wheelchairs, with swings and other apparatus. The facility would include a snack area and a miniature golf course, "so what might start as a couple of hours can be hours of fun for a family," Kane said.

Kane, in the video, said it was while watching his older son playing baseball that he realized Toms River does not have a baseball field that accommodates special-needs children like his son Gavin, who's now 6 years old and still recovering from the effects of the crash. Kane was on Bey Lea Road in a van with Gavin in a child safety seat in the back seat when they were rear-ended by a delivery truck in July 2012. Gavin suffered a head injury in the crash, according to a Patch report at the time.

Major League Baseball star Todd Frazier, who got his start on the baseball diamonds of Toms River, has thrown his support behind the project and is encouraging others to join in.

"It would be awesome to have this in our community and put smiles on these kids' faces," Frazier said.

The proposal includes putting in a turf field that is wheelchair-accessible, along with wheelchair-accessible dugouts, a handicap -accessible playground (Brick Township has one at Windward Beach Park constructed a couple of years ago), and a nine-hole miniature golf course would be added in the last phase of the project.

"It's a massive undertaking," Kane said, urging anyone who can help in any way to contact him; his email address is greatdad7@yahoo.com.

You can help out this weekend by stopping by Bob's Bagel Cafe, 1350 Hooper Ave. Each year in celebration of the store's anniversary, they hold a fundraiser for an organization, and this weekend — Friday through Sunday — that support will go to the Field of Dreams project, store representatives said. Bob's Bagel Cafe is in the mall with DSW shoes and Michael's.

"We will be donating all tips, taking donations, and selling $5 plain-only dozens, with all of the proceeds going to the cause," the store said on its Facebook page.

"We are trying to spread the word as much as possible before this weekend so that we can raise as much money as possible for this cause," the store said.

For more information on the Toms River Field of Dreams project, watch the YouTube video below.

Note: An earlier version of this article referred to the project being at Silver Bay Elementary School. It has been updated to reflect a proposal to build it at Bey Lea Park.

Photo of Christian Kane and Field of Dreams proposal via YouTube