Matheny goes “Red”

Speech-language pathologist Brynna Cunningham assists Matheny student Yasin Reddick in a game of adapted basketball.

National Wear Red Day, to support heart health wellness among women, was February 3, but, at Matheny we celebrated healthy heart awareness all month.

Special informational tables promoted healthy eating and cholesterol control plus managing blood pressure and stress. In addition, there were tips on quitting smoking, losing weight and managing blood sugar.

Of course, on February 23, everyone was encouraged to wear red, and red dress pins were available for a $5 donation to the American Heart Association. We raised a total of $263. And Matheny students participated all day in adapted versions of Jump Rope and Hoops 4 Heart activities.

Bill Simpson.

Bill Simpson has a message for all those planning to ride the Hills of Attrition cycling route at this year’s Miles for Matheny fundraiser and community event. Enjoy an “easy ride” this year, because next year, the course will be longer and harder.

Simpson, a Gladstone resident who has been designing this route for several years, reasons that, “We already have a 50-mile route. Next year the Hills of Attrition is going to be 66 miles. It will continue further west, and there will be no rest stops.”

Simpson has cycled all over the country and the world, including such places as California, Colorado, Ireland and Switzerland. “In this part of New Jersey,” he says, “the hills are small but challenging. This is great, great cycling country.”

Simpson has lived in Gladstone since June 2004 and, before that, lived in Pottersville. He remembers that in the early days of Miles for Matheny the Bedminster Flyers, a local riding group that he belongs to, was asked to design all the cycling routes, and he was specifically tagged for the Hills of Attrition. Asked if he has any advice for those tackling the Hills of Attrition, he says: “Most guys who ride it know what they’re up against. But remember, if you go up, you also get to go down.”

Miles for Matheny will be held Sunday, April 22, at Liberty Park in downtown Peapack. All funds raised will help support the Matheny Center of Medicine and Dentistry, which provides medical, dental and therapy care to Matheny inpatients and people with disabilities in the community. Activities include five different Cycling Routes, a 5K Race, a Kids Fun Run and the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk in which more than 100 participants in wheelchairs, with walking partners, travel 1.5 miles around town. Peapack-Gladstone Bank is the Cycling sponsor, and its Whitehouse Station branch will be used as a rest stop.

For more information about Miles for Matheny, or to register, log onto www.milesformatheny.org or call (908) 234-0011, ext. 260.

Cyclists line up in 2009, the last year Miles for Matheny was held in downtown Peapack.

Organizers of T.E.A.M. KIDS, from left, Ridge High School students Karly Koelmel, Katherine Winter and Hannah Broos.

Ridge High School student Hannah Broos has been volunteering regularly at Matheny. She’s also a member of the girls’ track team at the Bernards Township, NJ, high school. She and some of her teammates have been planning to run in the 5K Race at Miles for Matheny, but they’re going the extra mile, so to speak. They’ve decided to train elementary school children to either run or walk in the 5K and help raise money for the event.

In a special flyer they’re distributing to promote this project they are identifying themselves as T.E.A.M. KIDS: Teaching Exercise and Awareness for Matheny. Children are invited to be part of a winning team, the flyer says, and to:

• Have FUN

• Train to run or walk 5K

• Learn about the Matheny School

• Raise money to help kids at Matheny.

To prepare the elementary school kids for the 5K, Broos and her teammates will hold training sessions at the Ridge High School track on March 10, March 18, April 7 and April 14, from 1-2 p.m. They are encouraging families to sign up and participate together. At least one adult will be present at every training session, and parents are welcome but not required to attend.

Anyone interested in participating should contact Hannah at hbroos@optonline.net, Karly Koelmel at karlybellk@gmail.com, Katie Winter at katie19@gmail.com or log onto the T.E.A.M. KIDS Facebook page.

Miles for Matheny will be held Sunday, April 22, at Liberty Park in downtown Peapack. For more information or to register, log onto www.milesformatheny.org or call (908) 234-0011, ext. 260.

Major Miles for Matheny sponsors are:  The Poses Family Foundation, Affinity Federal Credit Union Foundation, Archer & Greiner P.C., BP Fueling Communities, WCBS-TV/WCBS Newsradio 880, Partlow Insurance Agency, Peapack-Gladstone Bank and Porzio Bromberg & Newman P.C.

Otis Livingston.

Otis Livingston, weekday sports anchor for WCBS-TV, will emcee the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk at the 15th annual Miles for Matheny event to be held Sunday, April 22, at Liberty Park in downtown Peapack. A multi-Emmy Award winner, Livingston lives in New Jersey with his wife and five children.

WCBS-TV, along with its sister station, WCBS Newsradio 880, will again be a broadcast media sponsor of Miles for Matheny, which will be returning to downtown Peapack after two years at Natirar Park.

All funds raised at Miles for Matheny will help support the Matheny Center of Medicine and Dentistry, which provides medical, dental and therapy care for Matheny inpatients and for people with disabilities in the community.

For more information, or to register, log onto www.milesformatheny.org or call (908) 234-0011, ext. 260.

Wheelchair Walk participants in 2011.

R.P.C. Inc., petroleum wholesaler distributor in Randolph, NJ, that supplies six BP service stations in northwest Morris and Warren counties, will be a Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk sponsor at the 15th annual Miles for Matheny. The sponsorship was made possible by a BP Fueling Communities grant. R.P.C., which nominated Matheny to be its grant recipient, supplies BP service stations in Randolph, Boonton, Hackettstown, Parsippany and Rockaway.

In the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk at Miles for Matheny, more than 100 children and adults in wheelchairs, with walking partners, travel 1.5 miles around downtown Peapack. There is also a 5K Race, five different Cycling routes and a Kids Fun Run. All funds raised help support the Matheny Center of Medicine and Dentistry, which provides medical, dental and therapy care to Matheny’s inpatients and to people with disabilities in the community.

Miles for Matheny is being held Sunday, April 22, at Liberty Park in Peapack. For more information or to register, log onto www.milesformatheny.org or call (908 234-0011, ext. 260.