The 15th Annual Bridger & Essex Grebe Softball Challenge faced a new challenge this year: rain!  And not just rain, but historic rain, combined with incredible lightning that started just before game time. Remarkably, this was the first time in 15 years that rain has fallen on the event.

But the weather did not slow us down.

Instead of heading home, our players, friends, and supporters stuck with us, huddling under tents, sitting in cars, or braving the rain.

You filled out raffle tickets, bid generously on auction items, and kept the energy up until the weather cleared. That patience and commitment meant a great deal to our family and is emblematic of the support you have shown us for the last 15 years.

Thanks to the dedication of our community – the people who were there in the rain and the people who contributed from a drier location –  we have already met our annual fundraising goal of $50,000, with final numbers still coming in. Even more importantly, INADCure has just confirmed that funding is now secured to manufacture the gene therapy drug. That means the proceeds from our event will help move the project into the clinical trial stage, getting us closer to a cure. Read more here.

Your willingness to show up, give generously, and stand by us in all conditions is something we will never take for granted. Every ticket purchased, every auction bid, and every word of encouragement brings us closer to changing lives.

We are deeply grateful to be part of such a generous community of friends and family.

By the way, the rain miraculously cleared for just enough time to play the game before darkness fell.  (We are so thankful that the Bridger and Essex Grebe Field is Turf!)  The Sounds, captained by Griffin, defeated the Angels, captained by Tripp, evening up the new series format at one game apiece. We had many veteran, and several new players on the field this year, and are thankful for their willingness to make sure to get the game played. 

Thank you again for your support, and we hope to see you next year at the 16th Annual Bridger & Essex Grebe Softball Challenge!

The Grebe Family

www.bridgerandessexgrebefund.com

From the INADcure Foundation …

We are honored to have received a $50,000 grant from the Bridger & Essex Grebe fund at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation!

To the incredible Grebe Family and the amazing community who came together for the 14th Annual Bridger and Essex Grebe Softball Challenge: we are truly humbled and grateful for your never-ending support. Your dedication to the success of the mission behind our organization has continued to drive meaningful progress in the fight against INAD. The heartfelt tribute of naming the baseball field in Bridger and Essex’s honor made this year’s event an even more beautiful testament to the power of perseverance and community.

The nearly $50,000 raised this year—and the astounding $400,000 contributed to date—are milestones that bring us closer to potentially life-changing treatments and, hopefully a cure. This generosity fuels the further development of our gene therapy program with the hope of achieving the first ever gene therapy clinical trial for INAD.

To University School, thank you for hosting this memorable event and for your remarkable gesture of naming the field after Bridger and Essex. The legacy of their courage and inspiration will undoubtedly shine bright for generations to come. To the donors, bidders, players, and attendees, thank you for making this event a resounding success. Together, we are advancing research, building hope and supporting families who are desperate to help their children.

We can’t thank Tim Van Vooren and Fox 6 enough for this special tribute to the boys and our family’s efforts to keep their memories alive.

Check out there story here.

Thank you to each of you – and everyone – who helped make this year’s 14^th Annual Bridger and Essex Grebe Softball Challenge a success. We appreciate your support.

For those of you who attended, you saw that the format of the game was changed this year. We eliminated the Old Men vs. Young Guns contest and replaced it with Team Tripp vs. Team Griffin. Our hope was that the change would lead to a more competitive game. To spare the feelings of the Wolverine in our family, maybe all that needs to be said is that his team had fewer pulled muscles than the Old Men typically suffered.  Unfortunately, they also scored fewer runs. There’s always next year!

In all seriousness, our family is deeply grateful for the love and support we’ve received from family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers through the work of the Bridger and Essex Grebe Fund. There have been a number of changes and updates to this event over the last 14 years, but the one thing that has never changed has been the overwhelming and unwavering love and support we’ve received from this community. We are very blessed and very thankful.

One of the other changes this year was the location. University School, which has meant so much to our family over the years, was a gracious and generous host and we want to thank them again. Go Wildcats! 

On top of the school’s hospitality, the gesture to name the baseball field in honor of Bridger and Essex was a special, meaningful, and generous gesture, made possible by the school and very generous donors.  Words cannot express what this means to the Grebe family – and hopefully to the legacy of Bridger and Essex and their inspiration to a cause that helps people who need it and the idea of perseverance through adversity. 

The ongoing and growing generosity of our auction and raffle donors provided the most extensive offerings at the event to date and helped raise a record amount through the bids they generated. Thank you to the donors and the bidders. 

We’re still working on a final tally, but it appears that you helped raise almost $50,000 for the Bridger and Essex Grebe Fund. As always, those funds will support families battling INAD who need that support and will go towards funding for gene therapy trials focused on a cure. If you would still like to donate, you can do so here.

The fund has been able to contribute more than $400,000 to INADcure dedicated to research and the gene therapy trial. The drive to a cure is happening, and with good fortune a cure or effective treatment is just over the horizon.

For more information on the status of the trial, see One Gene One Dream – Campaign (inadcure.org)

Once again, our family remains humbled and grateful for your steadfast support for this mission. Thank you for making the 14th Annual Bridger and Essex Grebe Softball Challenge a success!

We’ll see you next year!

The Grebe Family

University School of Milwaukee has dedicated its baseball field in honor of Bridger & Essex.

Thanks to an anonymous donation, the baseball field at USM’s Wildcat Park was named Bridger & Essex Grebe Field prior to our 2024 game.

We are extremely thankful for this opportunity to honor Bridger and Essex’s legacy.

The Grebe family has long-standing connections to USM. Michael (Class of 1985), Tripp (Class of 2019), and Griffin (Class of 2024) all graduated from USM, and they all played on the school’s varsity baseball team. We have also been active supporters of USM and its athletics programs for many years. Michael served on the school’s Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2022, and Kelly served as president of USM’s Booster Club from 2020 to 2022, after serving in other leadership roles.

Check out the TMJ4 story.

Bidding on our online auction is open through 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 10.

Access the auction website here. Bid high and bid often!

And thank you to all of our auction donors.

We’ve published our first Bridger & Essex Grebe Softball Challenge newsletter!

• Check it out here.
• And sign up for our email list here.

We’ve opened registration for the 2024 Grebe Softball Challenge, set for Saturday, August 10, at University School in Milwaukee.

Learn more about how to register, sponsor the game or donate here.

Registration is a two-step process.

1. Please complete this form and click “submit” when done. 
2. Upon completing your registration, you will then be directed to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation website to make your registration donation. Choose the number of each category of registrant (adult, youth, child) on the GMF site.

Registration options: 

• Adult: $65
• Youth (14-20): $40
• Child (13 and under): complimentary, with an adult donation

Your registration donation includes entry to both the game and tailgate and a variety of complimentary food and beverage options plus a coveted event t-shirt.  You will also be able to participate in the on-site raffle.

The Bridger & Essex Grebe Softball Challenge will have a new home in 2024: University School of Milwaukee!

We can’t thank school leaders and friends enough for making this move possible to a school that has special meaning to our family. Bridger and Essex’s father (Michael) and brothers (Tripp and Griffin) are all proud USM graduates and Wildcat baseball alumni.

This year’s game is Saturday, August 10, with the first pitch at 5:45 p.m. Please save the date and plan to join us! Registration opens in early July.

William Ainsworth Hart, Kelly’s father and grandfather to Bridger, Essex, Griffin and Tripp, tragically passed away on January 22.

Learn more about his life and legacy here.

The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Bridger & Essex Grebe Fund, “Bill’s charity of choice in support of a cure for Infantile Neuroaxanal Dystrophy that took his grandchildren too soon.”

Donate here, and enter “Bill Hart” in the “Tribute Information” section.

Thank you for your support, and for you thoughts and prayers for the Hart and Grebe families.