Point Pleasant Beach Girl's Video Inspires Donors To Aid Ocean Of Love

If you’ve driven down Hooper Avenue in Toms River in the area of the Lowe’s, you’ve no doubt seen the massive billboard fundraiser for Ocean of Love.

If not for the bad weather all week, you might have seen the video efforts of Point Pleasant Beach teenager who spent part of her summer working on a fundraiser for the charity. The billboard radiothon campaign -- an annual effort of the radio station 105.7 The Hawk -- is winding down, but the need to help the charity -- which assists families whose children are battling cancer -- is ongoing.

And that’s what sparked the effort of Mackenzie Malpass to aid the organization.

“I do something every year to help with cancer (research) but I wanted to make it a lot bigger,” said Mackenzie, 13, who’s an eighth-grader at G. Harold Antrim School. “I’m making confirmation this year and I needed community service. I said to my mom it would be really cool if I could make a music video.”

Mackenzie said she chose Ocean of Love because of family friends who are involved with the organization. She said she was joking when she suggested the video, but her mother’s enthusiastic response encouraged her to go forward. Mackenzie’s mother, Jennifer, reached out to Ocean of Love for assistance with the video, including putting them in touch with an Ocean County family whose 3-year-old daughter is fighting leukemia and has been assisted by Ocean of Love.

In the video, Mackenzie performs the Bette Midler song “Wind Beneath My Wings,” while Reece and her family play on a playground. The video was shot on a bay beach in Lavallette, Mackenzie said, by Tony Tudda, another family friend who is a videographer.

“He volunteered to film and edit it,” said Mackenzie, who then had to sing. The seasoned performer -- Mackenzie has been acting and singing in musicals since she was 9 years old -- spent two weeks rehearsing the song with her voice coach, Chris Pinnella, before recording it.

“Ocean of Love recommended that song,” Mackenzie said, “and I really connected with the lyrics.”

The completed video was posted on YouTube and on the Ocean of Love site on Sept. 11, and in the six weeks since, it has been viewed more than 2,800 times and donations attributed to it have exceeded $2,000. It was supposed to be shown during the radiothon, but the rainy weather made it impossible for the radio station to set up a projector. Mackenzie was interviewed on the air Monday at the billboard, however.

“I had no idea it would be this big,” Mackenzie said.

“She did this on her own,” Jennifer Malpass said. “It was her idea, her thing, and it turned into something really big.”

Jennifer Malpass said the project hasn’t simply helped raise funds for Ocean of Love; it brought the reality of childhood cancer home to Mackenzie.

“Just seeing Mackenzie with her (Reece), it turned something abstract and made it so real,” Jennifer Malpass said. “She met one of the girls who’s going to be helped by what she’s done, and it makes her very proud.”

You can view the video on YouTube, or go to the Ocean Of Love website and watch it there. There’s a place for donations, with a drop-down menu that allows donors to say what inspired them to donate -- with Mackenzie’s video as one of the options.
“That’s how they’re able to track how much money her video has raised, Jennifer Malpass said.

Just be warned: have tissues handy, especially if you have a soft heart.

“It’s supposed to make you cry,” Jennifer Malpass said.

“It’s supposed to make you cry,” Jennifer Malpass said.

Watch the video here.