One Team, 18 Families: Getting Fit To Help Our Community in Hillsborough

Hillsborough, NJ. Steps Together, the Hillsborough based 501(c)(3) organization that raises funds for area families in need of financial support due to medical circumstances, will benefit from a united walking/running team that will participate in the Steeplechase Distance Walk/Run on Sunday, September 27th in Hillsborough.

Rather than organize their own event, Steps Together organizes a team to participate in an existing community event. This allows them to raise funds for their organization while also supporting the Somerset Health Care Foundation.

For a $50 donation, Steps Together team members receive race registration, guided training via email with training tips and suggested workouts, invitations to attend group training sessions, and fundraising advice should participants wish to expand their donation network. All team members also receive a team shirt to wear on race day which highlights both teams sponsors and families who will benefit from the funds raised.

The team is a perfect fit for anyone wishing to pay forward their blessings and help local families. Steps Together encourages all levels of fitness to join from those wishing to complete their first organized event to experienced runners. According to Courtney Newman, Steps Together founder, “The commonality in team members is simple, everyone realizes their blessings.”

Now a Board member of the organization, Bill Mather shares about Steps Together. “I heard about Steps Together and attended my first training run in August of 2013. Seeing the dedication and commitment of all the Steps Together members is very contagious. I continue to train hard and improve; not only as a runner, but as a person. I have learned about paying it forward, about not taking anything for granted and that everyday is a gift. I am blessed with two beautiful, successful daughters, and the most supportive wife any man could ask for. I have met some of the most incredible people I’ve ever known in my entire life since that day.” Bill has gone on to complete multiple 5K’s, marathons and 24 -hour endurance events since that day.

Rosalia Viana of Bridgewater speaks to her involvement with the organization after Steps Together helped offset the cost of caring for her daughter Chloe who was born in April of 2010 with Spina Bifida, Myelomeningocele, Arnold Chiari Malformation Type II, Hydrocephalus and Bi-Lateral Clubbed Feet. “Becoming a part of Steps Together’s family has really inspired me on so many levels. I look at my Chloe and how hard she works to achieve her goals, like walking with or without crutches and I think to myself what kind of example am I setting for her as an inactive parent. I am too young and too important to myself and family to feel the way I do. The last thing Chloe needs is to develop poor food habits and become overweight which could ultimately keep her from walking on her own, put her in a wheel chair, or bring on another disease. How can I care for her if I feel weak, sick, tired or I can’t keep up with the physical demands it takes sometimes. I think of the other children and adults Steps Together assists and they have no choice, but to deal with their illnesses, and so I need to stop being unaccountable. I am ready and taking the right steps to get healthy for my baby girl and honor her, as well as, all the recipients.” Rosalia will be participating in the 2-mile walk for her second year in a row.

Events offered in the Steeplechase Distance Walk/Run include a 2-mile walk, 5K, 10K and sprints for children ages 2 to 11. Participants can learn more about the event and register at www.steps-together.org/teamdetails. Steps Together hopes our community will come together once again to show the families our collective support. The 2014 team of nearly 500 participants raised $52,000.

About Steps Together

Steps Together was established in 2013 after founding members saw two distinct conditions in families facing a medical crisis: a sense of isolation during treatment, and the need for financial support brought on by a medical situation. The mission of Steps Together is to inspire the community to pay their blessings forward and support families facing a medical crisis. To date they have allocated $193,000 to families in central New Jersey and more than $17,000 to the Somerset Health Care Foundation.

Much of what Steps Together provides goes far beyond financial assistance - it’s about awareness, prayers and love.

Many of the families who are receiving assistance from Steps Together have detailed their stories on the organization’s website, www.steps-together.org. Steps Together hopes that the community visits the pages of each family to read their stories, join their social media outlets and show our collective support. No matter where they are in their journey, they need our support, our prayers and our help to spread awareness about the medical diagnosis that forever altered their lives.