Despite the rain and wind, more than 20 members of the Morristown-Beard community recently participated in the Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk to benefit the Matheny Medical and Educational Center in Peapack-Gladstone.

Before the Walk, MBS volunteers helped the Matheny residents disembark from their buses using hydraulic wheelchair lifts. The residents were then “cued-up” for the two-mile Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk around Natirar. Following the Walk, the residents were escorted back to their buses and returned to the Matheny Medical and Educational Center for a celebration picnic.

Members of the Morristown-Beard community who participated in the event included: Andrea Chipana, Marissa Cohen ’12, Christina D’Alessandro ’15, Tess Fleming ’15, James Fort ’15, Matthew Grohowski ’15, Dylan Iuzzolino ’15, Blake Kernen ’18, Bill Lamson, Meredith Locasto, Katheryn Movsovich ’15, Kyle Movsovich ’13, Elizabeth O’Neill ’12, Danielle Popper ’13, Eva Rago ’15, Will Segal ’16, Samantha Siragusa ’15, Julia Sweeney ’14, Caroline Szuch ’13, Taylor Vessa ’13, and Jeremy Westaway ’15.

The Morristown-Beard School Matheny Volunteer Program, currently under the direction of MBS faculty William Lamson and Andrea Chipana, has been bringing student volunteers to the Matheny campus steadily every Monday afternoon each year, for the 11 years that Lamson has been at MBS. Thanks to the cooperative efforts of Gail Cunningham of Volunteer Services and the staff in Recreational Therapy, the program has grown consistently over those years to where there are now approximately 75 Upper and Middle School volunteers. Their volunteer effort is rotated in groups of seven students per trip.

Founded in 1946, the Matheny Medical and Educational Center provides comprehensive healthcare for children and adults with developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and Lesch-Nyhan Disease.