Miles of Smiles

WCBS-TV sports anchor John Discepolo
with Matheny student Yassin Reddick and
Matheny employees Mary Heavey and
Jackie Henning.

The skies may have been overcast, but the mood was definitely sunny, as a crowd of 2,000 participants, volunteers and well-wishers converged on Peapack for the 11th annual Miles for Matheny, held Sunday, April 20. The annual fundraiser and community event included five cycling routes, a 5K run and a kids fun run, but, as always, the signature event was the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk, which seems to grow larger every year. In addition to individual walking partners, the 150 children and adults in wheelchairs were joined in their 1.5-mile walk by people from every corner of the community – high school athletic teams, school groups, extended families and special “teams” assembled by parents of the some of the students and teachers.

Funds raised -- which, two days after the event had totaled $200,000, with money still coming in -- help support Matheny’s outpatient clinic, which provides medical, dental and therapy care to people with disabilities in 12 New Jersey counties.

After the events, participants relaxed at a celebration picnic held at Matheny. Title sponsor, for the third consecutive year, was sanofi-aventis, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies whose U.S. corporate headquarters is in Bridgewater. Other major sponsors included: Peapack-Gladstone Bank, cycling; Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, Morristown, kids fun run; Pfizer, picnic; Peter A. Lusk, public safety; Druskin Family Foundation, t-shirts; Affinity Federal Credit Union, entertainment; WCBS-TV and WCBS Newsradio 880, media; East Coast Media and Ponzi & Weill, print; and Cranford Bike Team/CTS, Delta Dental of NJ Foundation, Village Office Supply and Shoprite, community.

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