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Community Corner

Bark For Life Organizers Thank Community For Support

To the Editor:

On Saturday April 5, we hosted the first Bark for Life of Florham Park on the Gazebo Lawn.   We had a huge outpouring of community support with about 100 dogs and 200 people participating.  We raised more than $12,000 for the American Cancer Society, put towards our goal of a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

So much goes into planning and hosting a successful event that it is hard to name everyone.   A special thank you goes to Mayor Mark Taylor and the Borough Council; Council President Scott Carpenter; Caitlin Udall, our American Cancer Society staff partner; Adam Lieb from the Florham Park Recreation Department; Joe Jagiello from the Gazebo Committee; and Frank Esposito from the Department of Public Works.  A huge shout out goes to Terrie Carr from radio station WDHA whose energy helped make the day.  Dr. Donna Alfieri was generous with her time as our on-site veterinarian.  The press coverage from the Florham Park Eagle helped us raise awareness for this year and the future.

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Our volunteers worked tirelessly all day and made everything really come together.  We appreciated all the efforts from the Hanover Park Freshman Baseball Team and Key Club, who helped us do the heavy lifting and made the day run more smoothly.   Michael Marrero and Mark Amendola brought our mascots, Barkley and Hydro, to life. 

When we first started talking about the event, we were anticipating a handful of sponsors and vendors.  We ended up with two dozen: K-9 Resorts Daycare & Luxury Hotel, Ivy Educational Services, Royal Canine, Total Health Physical Medicine & Rehab Center  Golden Home Improvements, Massage Envy, New Jersey Swim Schools, Inc., Veterinary Center of Morris County, Vet MRI & Radiotherapy Center of NJ, Beams of Light Pet Reiki & Holistic Healing, Best Friends Fitness, CUTCO Cutlery, Corny Cookers, Extra Innings, Garden State German Sheppard Rescue, Green Apple Active, Gutter Helmet Systems, Hike Hounds Canine Adventures, Hounds Collective, It's All About You & The Dog, Morris Animal Inn, Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter, Pet Valu and Secret Garden Soap of Madison.  We would also like to mention some additional supporters of our event: Chad Drake Photography, Church & Dwight, Dance with Danielle, Helping Hands of Florham Park, Madison Pet Shop, Merrithew Health & Fitness, Nonna's Italian Restaurant, Red Bank Veterinary Hospital, and Sara England Designs.

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Participants enjoyed our Canine Contests and two special canine demonstrations.   Detective Doug Meyer and K9 Willie taught us about the responsibilities and training of a police canine.  The crowds were awed by John and Barbara Rushman, Amy Huntington, Kathleen Hourihan, and Larry Gindoff as they ran agility trials with Daisy, Ryan, Chanel, Scraps, and Rags.

Thank you to all the participants, both two-footed and four, who made our first Bark for Life of Florham Bark such a success.   With your continued support, we are already looking forward to a bigger and better Bark for Life 2015. 

Brenda and Jason Sardo, Derek Saul 

Hanover Park High School, Class of 2017

Linda Sardo and Stacy Saul




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