Friends and Families

Adult resident Andy Lash, with, clockwise from lower left: his nephew Jack, sister Morgan Kane, brother Justin and sister-in-law Melissa, holding newest addition to the family, Sam.

Adult resident Amanda Kochell with her mother, Laura Lyttle.

The annual Matheny picnic is an occasion that brings families of students and patients and friends from the community together to visit with each other, enjoy a barbeque prepared by the Matheny culinary staff and savor the end of the summer season outdoors in a stress-free, spontaneous atmosphere. The weather on Saturday, September 12, was cloudy but mostly rain-free. The outdoor pool was open, and musical entertainment was provided by the singing of Geri Brewer, mother of adult resident Rasheedah Mahali;

From left, Larry Thornton, Cesar Guerra, and Kendell R. Sprott, MD, JD.

Cesar Guerra, owner of Cesar’s Corner Deli in Peapack-Gladstone, also owns a landscaping company. During this past summer he brought a crew of volunteer workers to Matheny to do some weeding and general gardening work in the courtyard outside the Center of Medicine and Dentistry.

Kendell R. Sprott, MD, JD, Matheny’s CEO, and Larry Thornton, a Matheny trustee, visited Cesar’s recently and presented Guerra with a plaque that gratefully recognized him for his “dedication and commitment to our children and adults with special needs. The volunteer service you have performed has greatly enhanced their quality of life. Thank you for your support!”

T.J. Rasmussen helps out in a Matheny School classroom, assisting student Nicholas Barros.

Four years ago, a family friend suggested to T.J. Rasmussen that she might want to volunteer at Matheny. “I came to visit,” Rasmussen says, “and I fell in love with it.” To Rasmussen, a resident of Bedminster, NJ, Matheny is like a “second family.” She visits regularly, helping out in Matheny School classrooms, participating in recreation therapy activities or just socializing with the students and patients.

Matheny is just one of Rasmussen’s volunteer activities. She’s also a member of the Far Hills-Bedminster Rescue Squad and volunteers at Mane Stream, the Oldwick-based facility that offers adaptive horsemanship for individuals with disabilities. An added plus at Mane Stream is an opportunity to interact with Matheny School students when they go there for weekly therapeutic horseback riding sessions. Rasmussen is currently studying for her associate’s degree online and plans to either continue her education at Raritan Valley Community College or join the Air Force and become a paramedic.

Volunteers are needed at Matheny weekdays, evenings, and on weekends. Individuals can serve as recreation assistants, classroom aides, tutors, or just friendly visitors. For more information, call (908) 234-0011, ext. 282; or email volunteers@matheny.org.

Bonnie Gould chooses her golf shirts.

The Second Chance Shop, the Gladstone thrift shop operated by The Friends of Matheny, was packed by mid-morning on August 19, for “First Chance at Second Chance”, a one-day opening of the shop from 8:30 am. to 5:30 p.m. Located adjacent to the United Methodist Church on Jackson Avenue, the shop will reopen for the 2015-16 season on Wednesday, September 1. Among the early shoppers was Bonnie Gould, a resident of Basking Ridge, who was making only her second visit. Gould said she was impressed by the selection of golf shirts and was having trouble making a selection.

All proceeds from sales at Second Chance support the children and adults at the Matheny.

Zoey Mitzner, a student at Wiliam Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge, NJ, was always aware of Matheny, but, admittedly, “didn’t know much about it.” When she started thinking about a project for her bat mitzvah, she recalled that,“I wanted to help others and try to put a smile on as many faces as I could. I started researching, and Matheny looked like a perfect fit!” Mitzner met with Gail Cunningham, coordinator of volunteer activities, and David Curcio, volunteer assistant, and decided to create a “day of beauty” for some of the female students and patients.

“I then gathered my sister, Maddie, and two close friends, Adriana Giordano and Kathleen Finn,” she said. “Together we purchased all the supplies and extras to make this day as special as possible and, hopefully, unforgettable. We all can’t stop talking about our amazing experience at Matheny and our new friends. We only hope it was as meaningful for them as it was for us.”

Zoey Mitzner and Matheny adult resident, Misty Hockenbury, during the ‘Day of Beauty’ event.

From left, Maddie Mitzner, Adriana Giordano, Zoey Mitzner, and Kathleen Finn.

Mitzner’s bat mitzvah will be held August 15 at the Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, NJ. “As part of my speech,” she said, “I plan on sharing our special day at Matheny and encouraging all of my friends to volunteer in the future. I will certainly be volunteering again at Matheny, with even more friends, possibly at Halloween and during the holidays. Trust me, this is only the beginning!”

This past April, a group of about 20 employees from the Home Depot stores in Bridgewater, NJ, visited Matheny to create planting gardens for a Matheny School science project and to do major makeovers for the nature trail and ball field. In addition to completing all this work, the Home Depot team toured Matheny, enthusiastically embracing our mission and showing genuine concern about the well-being of Matheny’s students and patients. Plans are in the works for more projects in the fall.

From left, Sandy Josephson, Matheny director of public relations and development; Home Depot employees from the Bridgewater Promenade store, Morris Archer, Russ Bloss, John Pingitore (store manager), and Rich Aaron; Matheny trustee Larry Thornton.

Home Depot employees from the Bridgewater Town Centre store, from left, Lorin Suplee, Tyana Bell, Jeff Pemberton (store manager), John Wells and John McCall.

In appreciation of Home Depot’s efforts, Matheny staff members and a member of the Board of Trustees visited both Bridgewater stores recently and presented special plaques thanking the Home Depot employees for their “dedication and commitment to our children and adults with special needs.”

Kristen O’Dowd of Colts Neck, NJ, right, and Cheryl Wieczorek of Middlesex, NJ, help Matheny student Megan Blaxill make her luau mask.

“I just want to make sure they are having a good time.” That comment typified the enthusiastic spirit of several Janssen Pharmaceuticals volunteers who recently helped  Matheny School students celebrate an end-of-the-year luau. The volunteers, from Janssen’s Raritan, NJ, offices, participated in several activities including mask making and adapted sports games.

The visit was part of a program called Days of Caring in which groups of Janssen employees work together to help further the missions of non-profits. The Days of Caring events, according to the Janssen website, “give employees the opportunity to give back to their communities and take part in rewarding volunteer experiences.”  Janssen, a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson, provides medicines for an array of health concerns in several therapeutic areas including attention deficit hyperactivity, general medicine and mental health.

The Janssen volunteers gathered outside for a group photo at the end of the day.

Matheny athletes took home nine Gold and six Silver medals at the 2015 New Jersey Special Olympics Summer Games held at the College of New Jersey. Misty Hockenbury, Lee Lubin and Shaleena Tomassini won two Gold Medals each: Hockenbury and Lubin won their Gold Medals  in the 25-meter motorized wheelchair obstacle race, and 50-meter motorized wheelchair slalom; Tomassini won for the 100-meter wheelchair race and the 200-meter wheelchair race. Other Gold Medal winners were Bari-Kim Goldrosen for power lifting; Jameir Warren-Treadwell for the wheelchair tennis ball throw; and Ellen Kane for the 25-meter motorized wheelchair obstacle race.

Silver medals were won by Yasin Reddick in the 30-meter wheelchair motorized slalom and the 50-meter motorized wheelchair slalom; Amanda Kochell and Jason Weiner for bocce mixed doubles; Warren-Treadwell for the 25-meter wheelchair race; and Kane for the 50-meter motorized wheelchair slalom.  Kochell and Weiner also won a Silver medal bocce unified, in which they teamed up with two Matheny staff members,  recreation therapists Shannon O’Brien and Meghan Walsh.

Misty Hockenbury, left, and Ellen Kane celebrate their wins in the 50-meter motorized wheelchair slalom.

The unified bocce team, from left, Shannon O’Brien, Jason Weiner, Meghan Walsh, and Amanda Kochell.

Competition in Special Olympics is part of Matheny’s recreation therapy program, which provides students and patients with a variety of recreational opportunities and resources to improve their physical, emotional, cognitive, and social well-being.

After the work was completed, the Goldman Sachs group gathered in the Matheny lobby for a group photo.

The rains came, and so did the Goldman Sachs volunteers.  As part of a global volunteer initiative called Community TeamWorks, several volunteers from Goldman Sachs offices in New Jersey and New York visited Matheny on June 5, completed major renovation projects on Matheny’s grounds and installed lots of new plants and flowers. The weather didn’t exactly cooperate, but, donning ponchos and other rain gear, the GS volunteers completed their outside tasks and still had time to tour Matheny and visit some of the classrooms.

Goldman Sachs volunteers braved the elements to work in the garden outside the Matheny Center of Medicine and Dentistry.

Under the Community TeamWorks program, some 50 GS offices partner with more than 900 nonprofit community partners worldwide.

Jackson Ketterson gets some pointers from Matheny student, Jameir Warren-Treadwell.

“It’s really fun! It’s a new style of playing.” That’s how Jackson Ketterson, a fourth grader at the Far Hills Country Day School (FHCDS) described the adapted versions of traditional sports demonstrated during a recent visit by students and staff at Matheny. The FHCDS students tried their skills in such activities as adapted basketball, wheelchair obstacle courses, and a special ball toss. “It’s really cool how they do things,” said Marissa Mikosh, and another student simply described the experience as “awesome.”

The visit had several objectives: to show the FHCDS students how their peers with disabilities can enjoy many of the same activities they do; to lessen unease about how to interact with people with disabilities; and to replace that unease with a sense of camaraderie as the two groups competed on a somewhat level playing field.

Far Hills Country Day is an independent, co-educational pre-kindergarten through grade eight school in Far Hills, NJ.

Marissa Mikosh tries out a power wheelchair.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2015/06/01/miles-matheny-annual-wheelchair-walk-returns-peapack/28290679/

Jordan, left, and Courtney Smith of Bedminster handed out water bottles at Miles for Matheny 2014.

“Hi. I am interested in volunteering for the upcoming Miles for Matheny event. My family has recently relocated to Gladstone, and we’ve heard that this is a wonderful event and would like to help out in some way. Please let me know if you are in need of volunteers and in what capacity. Thank you.”

That email from new Gladstone, NJ, resident Kristen Huamani, is typical of the community support for the 18th annual Miles for Matheny, the fundraiser and community event being held this Sunday, May 31, at Liberty Park in downtown Peapack, NJ. All five members of the Huamani family will be volunteering that day along with more than 400 others who will be doing things like distributing t-shirts, processing registration, handing out water bottles, greeting Matheny students and patients as they arrive in the park, painting faces, walking with wheelchair participants, forming cheering sections along the wheelchair walk route, cleaning up and helping people park their cars at Pfizer.

Groups include the Junior Friends of Matheny (mainly high school students from Bernards and Ridge), members of the Peapack–Gladstone-based Lone Eagle Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, employees of Peapack–Gladstone Bank and several other school and church groups.

A new group, “PG Loves Matheny,” will be participating in the Fitness Walk. Says member Donna Brooten of Gladstone: “There are many Matheny supporters in Peapack–Gladstone, and a one-mile Fitness Walk is the perfect way to show your support. Join the ‘PG Loves Matheny’ team on May 31 at 12:15 at Liberty Park.”

Events at Miles for Matheny include the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk, the new Fitness Walk, a Kids Fun Run and five different Cycling rides. A “Breakfast of Champions” will be available, courtesy of The Friends of Matheny. All funds raised will support programs and services that enhance the lives of the children and adults at Matheny and provide services for people with disabilities in the community.

Premier sponsor is The Poses Family Foundation. Other major sponsors include the Golub Family, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Partlow Insurance, Peapack–Gladstone Bank, Porzio Bromberg & Newman P.C. Attorneys at Law and WCBS Newsradio 880. For more information, log onto www.milesformatheny.org or call (908) 234-0011, ext. 260.

Residents of Mendham Road in Gladstone formed their own cheering section last year for participants in the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk.