Posters for Miles

Matheny teacher Joanna Alfone helps Ari Golub and classmate Katherine Gaudio get started on one of the Miles for Matheny posters.

With less than a week to go, the students and patients at Matheny are looking forward to the 17th annual Miles for Matheny fundraiser and community event, which will be held this Sunday, June 1. The highlight is the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk, in which more than 100 wheelchair participants, with walking partners, will travel 1.5 miles around downtown Peapack-Gladstone, NJ, cheered on by family, friends, Matheny staff members and local residents.

This year, Heather Santoro, a resident of Mendham Road in Gladstone, has organized a contest to see who can create the best banner to wave as the wheelchairs pass by her house and those of her neighbors. But Matheny students have decided to create some additional posters for other spectators, and Ari Golub, whose family is a major sponsor of Miles, has galvanized his classmates to make this a special project, coordinated by his teacher, Joanna Alfone.

All funds raised at Miles for Matheny will help support the Matheny Center of Medicine and Dentistry, where more than 800 of New Jersey’s children, teens and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities have access to the best possible medical, dental and therapy care. Activities, in addition to the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk, include a USATF-certified 5K Race, five different Cycling courses, a Kids Fun Run and the “Breakfast of Champions” provided by The Friends of Matheny. Major sponsors, besides the Golub family, are the Poses Family Foundation; Partlow Insurance; Peapack-Gladstone Bank; Porzio, Bromberg & Newman PC Attorneys at Law; BP Fueling Communities; Delta Dental of New Jersey, Inc.; WCBS-TV and WCBS Newsradio 880.

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

From left, students Katherine Gaudio, Ari Golub, teacher Joanna Alfone and student Jenna Poleyeff display one of the Miles for Matheny posters they made in class.