Spring planting

Sara Naylor and Jordan Perry-Fair with adult patient Luis Rodriguez.

Eighth-graders from the Madison Junior School in Madison, NJ, made their second trip to Matheny this school year to visit with  students and patients and to help out with a spring planting project.

Volunteers are always welcome at Matheny, as part of an organized group or as individuals, especially during weeknights or on weekends.

For information, call (908) 234-0011, ext. 282, or email volunteers@matheny.org.

Desta Johnson with adult patient Rasheedah Mahali.

From left, Taty Manousakis, recreation therapist Amy Beatty, Jason Weiner and rec therapist Meghan Walsh.

Matheny adult patients Taty Manousakis and Jason Weiner brought home a bronze medal from the Special Olympics New Jersey 2012 Central Bocce Sectional Competition held April 28 in Lawrenceville, NJ. They competed in the 22 and older mixed division.

Next up for Taty and Jason: the Special Olympics Bocce Summer Games in June.

Good luck!

Jason concentrates on his next roll.

Sylvia Bre, left, receives her $25 gift certificate from Linda Horton, center, Second Chance manager, and Benita Kiell.

When The Friends of Matheny, Matheny’s auxiliary group, moved its Second Chance Thrift Shop from the basement of the United Methodist Church in Gladstone, NJ, to the adjacent Wesley Hall, which is much larger, the expectation was that business would increase. But no one expected it to be this much.

For the 2010-2011 season, the Second Chance Shop raised $85,000 to benefit Matheny. On April 24 of this year, the shop passed the $100,000 mark for the 2011-2012 season, and the season doesn’t end until after Memorial Day.

Sylvia Bre of Swiftwater, PA, bought a pair of shoes for $2, which put the shop over the $100,000 mark. She received a $25 gift certificate, and the two volunteer salespeople on duty – Benita Kiell of Far Hills and Betty Martin of Basking Ridge – were rewarded with $5 gift certificates.

The Harter family, from left: Meghan, Doug, Jack, Katie and Caroline.

Jack’s Team, formed by the family of six-year-old Matheny day student Jack Harter, appears to be the top fundraiser for Miles for Matheny, with funds raised at the end of last week totaling $6,448.

When the Harters created a fundraising team last year, Jack’s father Doug said, “We are blessed with family and friends who want to do what they can to support Jack and us.”
Other top fundraisers, to date, are:

• Andy “Flash” Lash, family of adult patient Andy Lash, $4,253
• That’s How Scott Rolls, family of student Scott Gordon, $3,663
• Team Desatnick, family of student Bryan Desatnick, $3,481
• Team Porzio, law firm Porzio Bromberg & Newman, which also sponsored the kids fun run, $3,473
• TEAM Kids, members of the Ridge High School girls track team, $3,245
• Team Patrick, parents of student Patrick Conmy $2,770
• Cory Mazen, Bedwell School teacher, $1,855
• PAY IT FORWARD, team formed by Melanie Glick-Santiago, friend of Matheny parent Lisa Conturso, $1,625
• Christine Caratello of Roseland, NJ, $1,610.

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

Johnny Depp.

Assembling puzzles can be intimidating and exasperating for most people, but not for Matheny adult patient Michael Arin.

He has completed more than 50 puzzles since his first, a farm scene, when he was 10 years old.

Lately, Michael has discovered how to make his hobby profitable. He raffles off completed puzzles and also offers them for sale. Some of his best customers are Matheny employees.

Cats!

Chris Johnson, center, and Seena Frankel, right, wait on customer Linda Cowperthwaite of Long Valley, NJ, who says, “I like shopping here because the staff is so helpful.”

People shop at The Friends of Matheny’s Second Chance Shop in Gladstone, NJ, mainly because of the bargains. But it also helps to have friendly, knowledgeable salespeople, all of whom are volunteers. Two of the veteran volunteers, Chris Johnson of Bedminster, NJ, and Seena Frankel of Bernardsville, NJ, had the “shift of the week” in late March. On a Thursday morning, they sold $518.75 worth of merchandise, including a big set of dishes, two bookcases and a painted saw.

When Frankel moved to Bernardsville from Brooklyn 10 years ago, she began volunteering at the shop. She loves that “the customers are all different, plus I love organizing things.” Johnson met Frankel at an art class at the Center for Contemporary Art in Pluckemin, NJ. “Seena introduced me to Matheny,” she recalls. They also discovered that they both had gone to Chatham High School.

The Second Chance Shop, which earned $88,000 last year, seems to be on a record pace this year after moving to a larger location in the Gladstone United Methodist Church. As of March 31, its total sales for the year were more than $90,000, about $23,000 ahead of the previous year. The Friends of Matheny, Matheny’s auxiliary group, has raised more than $3 million since its inception in 1983.

“The Reflecting Pool” by Cheryl Chapin.

For the second consecutive year, paintings and digital art by artists in Matheny’s Arts Access Program will be part of a special exhibit, “New Jersey Medical School – ARTS” in the Medical Science Building at UMDNJ in Newark.

An opening reception will be held from 2 p.m. -4 p.m. on Sunday, May 20. The exhibit will run through the end of August.

Nine Arts Access artists will be featured. In addition, artwork from three Arts Access satellite programs – the WAE Center of JSDD (Jewish Services for the Developmentally Disabled of Metrowest, Inc.) in West Orange, NJ; the Arc of Mercer County in Trenton, NJ; and Hattie Larlham in Twinsburg, Ohio – will be on display as well.

Arts Access enables people with disabilities to create fine art, assisted by professional artist-facilitators. All artwork is for sale, with half the proceeds going directly to the individual artist and the other half going to Matheny to cover the cost of art materials, stretching and framing of the work.

For more information on the UMDNJ exhibit, contact Eileen Murray at (908) 234-0011, ext. 442, or email her at Eileen@artsaccessprogram.org.

Untitled by Cindy Shanks.

Wayne Cabot and his daughter, Amanda, attempt to stay dry at Miles for Matheny.

WCBS Newsradio 880 anchor Wayne Cabot created a webpage, “Team Wayne,” to raise money for Miles for Matheny. He promoted it at the end of a public service announcement that aired on the all-news radio station during the week leading up to the event, which was held on Sunday, April 22.

On his webpage, Cabot told potential donors, “You’ve made a great choice supporting Miles for Matheny. I’ve participated for years, visited the facility a number of times, talked with the teachers, staff and students and can attest to the great things that are happening there.”

As of April 30, Team Wayne had raised $761.