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Miles for Matheny this Sunday

As always, Bernards residents prepare for participation and raise funds for annual outdoors benefit.

One of the largest fundraisers and community events in the Somerset Hills area, Miles for Matheny, is scheduled to be held this Sunday, April 17, at Natirar County Park off Route 202 in Peapack-Gladstone.

Each year, the fundraiser for the Matheny Medical and Educational Center in Peapack-Gladstone attracts about 2,000 participants, volunteers and spectators from the Somerset Hills and beyond, including residents from Basking Ridge.

A highlight of the day always is the annual Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk, in which able-bodied friends and family members accompany Matheny patients and others in wheelchairs. The event was named in honor of the late Lu Huggins of Basking Ridge, who began the forerunner of Miles for Matheny in 1998 as a way to get patients from Matheny out into the community.

Miles for Matheny has grown from a small wheelchair walk and cycling ride to to an event that, according to Matheny president Steven Proctor, is “as much a community event as it is a fundraiser.  Our goal has always been to bring together the children and adults with disabilities with their able-bodied counterparts in a wonderful and uplifting day enveloped by the strong community spirit of our neighbors."

In an effort to reduce traffic on Highland Avenue and streamline overall logistics, the entire day's event, including an afternoon celebration picnic, will all be moved to Natirar Park.

Find out what's happening in Basking Ridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While participants will continue to park at the Pfizer facility on Route 206 and be shuttled to the park, no one will have to be shuttled from the park to Matheny later in the day.

Each year, those participating in the various running events, cycling and other activities can raise money beforehand to boost their fundraising totals. As of earlier this week, Team Bryan Desatnick, for the Basking Ridge resident who is a residential patient at Matheny, had raised $2,080; comprised of a Basking Ridge family, had raised $750; and Team CBI (Congregation B'Nai Israel from Basking Ridge) had raised $200, said Matheny spokesman Sandy Josephson.

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Matheny is a special hospital and educational facility here for children and adults with medically complex developmental disabilities.  Funds raised at Miles for Matheny 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.  The event includes a 5K run, several cycling routes, a kids fun run and the signature Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk, in which 150 participants in wheelchairs, accompanied by walking partners, travel 1.5 miles around the perimeter of the park.

According to Matheny, the schedule for this year’s event will be as follows:

7:40 a.m.                        On-site registration begins.

8:30 a.m.                        50-mile and ‘hills of attrition’ bike rides

10 a.m.                            32 and 23-mile bike rides

10:10 a.m.                       5K run

10:30 a.m.                      12-mile bike ride

10:45 a.m                        Kids fun run

11 a.m.                             Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk

11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Celebration Picnic

Major sponsors include:  The Poses Family Foundation, title sponsor; Peapack-Gladstone Bank, cycling; Porzio Bromberg & Newman, kids fun run; Affinity Federal Credit Union, entertainment; WCBS-TV and WCBS Newsradio 880; broadcast media sponsors; Delta Dental, Partlow Insurance and Wakefern/Shoprite, community sponsors; Olive Garden, Rotary Club of Bernardsville and Villa Enterprises, food sponsors.  Matheny is especially indebted to the Somerset County Park Commission,  the park rangers and maintenance department at Natirar, the Borough of Peapack-Gladstone Department of Public Works, Police Department, Fire Department and First Aid and Rescue Squad and the management and staff at Ninety Acres restaurant for their invaluable assistance.

For more information about how to support or participate in Miles for Matheny, call 908-234-0011, ext. 260, or log onto the Miles for Matheny website.


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