When Lila Price, a second grader at Seth Boyden, was chosen as a winner in “The Little Volunteers” contest sponsored by Junior League of the Oranges and Short Hills, no one was more surprised than her mom, Eliza — not because her vivacious daughter hadn’t come up with a great submission idea, but because the competition was particularly fierce: “Apparently they had a record number of entries this year,” says Eliza. “We are very proud of her!”

Lila’s idea was simple: put together an organized run to raise money for people in need from Irvington. “We were about to have a ‘fun run’ at my school,” explains Lila. “I thought I could use the same sort of idea to help some other people, too.”

As a reward for winning the contest, Lila will receive $100 to put towards turning her volunteering vision into a reality. Her mom sees it as a win/win situation. “This is really going to be a great way to get our whole family involved in volunteering for the community.” And with four kids under their roof, the Price family can deliver a lot of philanthropic punch!

And speaking of hits:

Marlowe Iorio, a Tuscan third grader, has some major league talent. After conquering his age division in our local Pitch, Hit & Run competition, Marlowe advanced to the regional level where his winning streak continued. On May 15, he competed at the minor-league stadium where the Staten Island Yankees play, besting the best of players from all over New Jersey and Staten Island:

“Marlowe won the overall contest for 7 & 8 year old boys by having the highest score from a combination of his hitting, pitching, and running,” reports proud mom, Nicole. “Then, after all the sectional contests were held all around the NYC-metro area, they narrowed it down to the top three kids in each age category based on their overall scores.”

The results? Our local lad was one of them!!! Now he’s poised to prove his pitching prowess at none other than YANKEE STADIUM!

“On Sunday, June 12, he'll get another shot at showing off his baseball skills, along with earning free tickets to that day's Yankees game against the Cleveland Indians,” says Nicole. “Marlowe's been practicing really hard, and we're so proud of him!

I think you can count the rest of the town with you on that one, Nicole! And just what does Marlowe make of all this baseball business? “It just makes me feel good that I’ve made it this far,” he says, adding that he’s been clocking some serious hours prepping for the big day. “I’ve been practicing a lot in our backyard with targets and stuff.”

(Major League scouts, take note...)

Happy Thursday, Maplewoodians!