Miles of love and community spirit

Neighbors at 23 Mendham Road cheer on the wheelchair participants. From left, Laura and Leah Simpson, Morgan and Debbie Infusino and Spencer Sorge.

“Finally, it’s not pouring rain or 51 degrees. You earned this.” With those words, Wayne Cabot, news anchor for WCBS Newsradio 880, sent the 5K runners on their way during the 17th annual Miles for Matheny, the Matheny Medical and Educational Center’s annual fundraiser and community event, held Sunday, June 1, at Liberty Park in Peapack-Gladstone. Matheny is a special hospital and educational facility for children and adults with medically complex developmental disabilities.

The weather, as Cabot indicated, was perfect. But so were the atmosphere and  overall sense of community spirit, highlighted by the festivities at 23 Mendham Road, located along the route of the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk in Peapack-Gladstone. Thanks to Heather Santoro, who lives there with her family, that stop, just before the home stretch of the 1.5-mile journey, served as an incredible rallying point for the wheelchair participants, their friends, families and caregivers when they saw signs that read, “We Love Matheny” and “Roll On, Matheny,” and heard the enthusiastic cheering and noisemaking.

The day, which also featured five cycling routes and a kids’ fun run, attracted an outpouring of supporters from  communities throughout New Jersey. And all the running, walking and cycling, as Cabot and WCBS-TV meteorologist Elise Finch reminded everyone, was being done for one purpose: to 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.

Community resident Chet Cheesman gets some assistance from his sister Amber in the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk.

Wayne Cabot and his daughter Amanda, trying to keep dry last year.

WCBS Newsradio 880 anchor Wayne Cabot will once again have a personal webpage on the Miles for Matheny website to raise money for our fundraiser and community event, being held on Sunday, April 21, at Liberty Park in Peapack, NJ. WCBS Newsradio 880 and sister station WCBS-TV are media sponsors of Miles, and Cabot and CBS 2 sports anchor Otis Livingston will be at the event.

Cabot says he comes to Miles every year because, “We believe in what the folks at Matheny do. I have had the honor of being shown around many times. The people at Matheny are treated with care and dignity. I’m so happy to be a part of it.”

Activities at Miles for Matheny include the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk, a 5K Road Race, five different Cycling routes, a Kids Fun Run and The Friends of Matheny “Breakfast of Champions” followed by luncheon refreshments in the park.

All funds raised at Miles help support the Matheny Center of Medicine and Dentistry, which provides medical, dental and therapy care to Matheny inpatients and people with disabilities in communities throughout New Jersey. Other major sponsors are: the Poses Family Foundation, title sponsor; Partlow Insurance Agency; Peapack-Gladstone Bank; Porzio Bromberg & Newman, P.C.; and Affinity Federal Credit Union.

To find out how you can be part of this fun-filled and uplifting event, log onto www.milesformatheny.org or call (908) 234-0011, ext. 260. To help support Wayne Cabot’s fundraising efforts, click on Search for Participant and type in his name.

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.

We recently posted about our winning the Hospital Planning and Marketing Society of New Jersey’s Percy Award for Best Small Hospital Public Relations/Media Placement. Shown here, Sandy Josephson, director of marketing and public relations for Matheny, left, accepts the award at HPMSNJ’s annual meeting from Patricia Haines, HPMSNJ president and senior planning analyst at AtlantiCare, and outgoing president Norman Tessell, director of business development, imaging systems, at Atlantis Worldwide.

Matheny has won this award for three consecutive years. This year’s award was for Matheny’s partnership with WCBS-TV and WCBS Newsradio 880 to support the annual fundraiser and community event, Miles for Matheny.