2011 Charites - Bergen County Charity Classic

2011 Charites

Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
Brain Injury Association of New Jersey
Heroes and Cool Kids
EDSAF
Zehr Family Trust
Meaningful Movement
Samantha Rose Reverand Foundation
The Philip Mazzo Sr. Memorial Foundation
The David Feit Memorial Foundation

Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.

The Reeve Foundation’s Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) promotes the health and well-being of people living with a spinal cord injury, mobility impairment, and paralysis by providing comprehensive information, resources and referral services.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization designated by the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions made to it are fully tax-deductible.

This year, the BCCC has worked closely with the Reeve Foundation to target a Bergen County family who has suffered from Paralysis.

To learn more about the Reeve Foundation, visit them at http://www.christopherreeve.org

Brain Injury Association of New Jersey

An estimated 3.17 Million Americans suffer life long disabilities as a result of brain injuries. A concussion is the most common type of brain injury and should be taken seriously. While concussions are not limited to athletics, athletes are more prone to concussions and therefore should be monitored closely.

New Jersey has recently passed a new law to protect young athletes from the dangers of sports related concussions. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed the law into place on Tuesday December 10, 2010 at a press conference held at the New Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford.

The law, which was first introduced by Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan and later Senator Dick Codey, requires the development of an interscholastic athletic head injury safety training program. It also requires certain measures to protect student athletes with concussion and requires continuing education for athletic trainers. Click here to read the entire law

With the help of the BCCC, The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey will pay for 300 Impact Tests for students in Bergen County. To learn more about the Impact Tests, click here, or visit the home page of the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey.

Emerson Disabled Student Athlete Foundation (EDSAF)

EDSAF is dedicated to providing assistance to persons residing in the Borough of Emerson, Bergen County, New Jersey, who are attending or who attended a primary or secondary school in Emerson when such person became disabled and who now has a long term or permanent disability. The trustees of EDSAF will evaluate any request for benefits upon the submission of an application in light of the applicant’s perceived need and expected benefit of receiving the grant, taking into account EDSAF’s overall financial abilities and the expected number of applicants.

In the summer of 2003, one of Emerson’s students was spending a day at the beach in Belmar, New Jersey. The young lady dove into the surf, hitting an unexpected sandbar with enough force to shatter one vertebra in her neck and fracture three others. This accident has left her paralyzed with limited use of her arms and hands and no movement in her fingers or legs, wheelchair bound for the rest of her life! Going into her senior year, she was the catcher and clean-up hitter on the high school softball team, never to play again. Concerned coaches, players, teachers, administrators, and people of the community banded together to form a non-profit, tax free charitable organization to help and support her and any other Emerson student in a similar predicament.

Heroes and Cool Kids

"The goal of Heroes & Cool Kids is to promote pro-social behavior in students and to create a caring and disciplined school climate"

Heroes & Cool Kids, which began operating during the 1998-99 school year, is a not-for-profit organization based in New Jersey. The program utilizes the services of current and former professional athletes whose personal life experiences enable them to train high school student leaders.

The athletes train high school students to mentor middle school students on important life skills, including sportsmanship, conflict resolution and positive lifestyle choices highlighting drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention.

The program runs each school year from November until May.

Heroes & Cool Kids is currently implemented in nine counties around New Jersey. The athletes and high school students make three site visits to the middle schools each year.

To prepare, the high school students must complete three training conferences before mentoring the middle school students. These conferences are held at the Vonation (Vonage in Holmdel, NJ) and at Bergen Community College in Paramus.

Zehr Family Irrevocable Trust

On September 15, 2010, John Zehr, an ESPN executive and Closter New Jersey native, was driving home from a football game at the Meadowlands when his whole life changed in just a few seconds. Suffering from a stroke, Zehr’s car drifted into oncoming traffic at approximately 2 a.m. and collided with an SUV on I-84 near West Hartford. Fortunately, the other driver was not injured, but Zehr suffered serious brain injury and was in a coma for several weeks. The life of the healthy father of three was changed forever.

Zehr’s recovery has been a difficult and slow process. Zehr has been out of his coma since mid-November, but is still unable to speak or walk. Currently at a rehabilitation facility outside Boston, his doctors say his recovery is promising, but, much to the family’s dismay, insurance coverage for the facility ended in February of this year.

To read the article in the Northern Valley Press, Click Here.

Meaningful Movement

Meaningful Movement offers dance classes, such as wheelchair dance and musical choreography, to students with a variety of challenges, including autism, Down syndrome, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and other neurological and developmental issues. Classes are provided to assist the students both physically and socially. The students gain a better self-image through these classes, performances in front of audiences, and other activities. Speech and language skills are also enhanced as a variety of tools are used to help the non-verbal students to communicate (such as sign language and photo boards). The staff believes in each student’s ability to learn and grow.

Samantha Rose Reverand Foundation

Samantha Rose Reverand passed away August 21, 2002 at the age of 9. Samantha was an excellent athlete, a hard working student & a loving daughter. In her memory, her family established The Samantha Rose Reverand Foundation. This foundation was set up to be a Sports/Arts/Academic based college scholarship award. The first awards will be given to the graduating class of 2011. All moneys donated to the fund will be awarded as college scholarships. The Samantha Rose Reverand Foundation would like to thank all involved for making this a successful program.
To make donations directly to the foundation, please mail them to:
The Samantha Rose Reverand Foundation
145 Woodland Rd.
Demarest, NJ 07627

The Philip Mazzo Sr. Memorial Foundation

The Philip Mazzo Sr. Memorial Foundation was started in memory of Philip Mazzo Sr. to allow the spirit and dedication that Phil demonstrated to live on in the Bergen County youth who suffer from rare genetic disorders that limit their ability to participate in the sports that they love.

The PMSM Foundation works to help families with children who have rare genetic disorders by providing monetary and voluntary assitance to improve areas of the children’s lifes that otherwise the family would not be able to afford. The areas include, but are not limited to, transportation for medical purposes, purchasing new equipment / medical items and helping kids get access to top doctors in their respective disease states.

The David Feit Memorial Foundation

On July 22, 2002 our community suffered a tragic loss with the passing of Dr. David Feit.A devoted family man, David always maintained a special place in his heart for youth activities. He gave generously not only financially but by investing his time to promote both scholastic
and athletic programs in our community.

The DFM Foundation was established in his honor. A Board of Directors has been appointed. Our mission is to raise and distribute funds with the same spirit and vision with which David lived his life. Our prime focus is to donate monies to charities and organizations that place a particular emphasis on youth activities or helping children in need.