South Brunswick Community Reaches Out To Mom in Need

By Katharine Friedman

Heidi Rone and Marla Resnick have been friends for several years, so when Rone needed help the most, Resnick was there. They became acquainted with each other after their children met in kindergarten. Resnick has twins and Roone has triplets. The families have been very close since and both are very active in the South Brunswick Community.

On July 3rd 2015 Roone and Resnick made plans for their families to attend the fireworks show at Ryder University. When Resnick and her family arrived to pick up Roone and her children: Kaitlyn (who was coming home from work) Jared (striving to be a fourth generation Eagle Scout) and Courtney. Jared went to tell his father they were ready to leave, and the family’s lives changed. Rone’s husband of nearly 25 years, Charles “Chuck” was unresponsive in their bed. Rone and Jared performed CPR and Courtney called the paramedics; unfortunately 50 year old Chuck Rone had passed away of a heart attack. My condolences go out to the family.

Resnick anticipated the struggles Rone would have to face to raise three very active children, pay for the funeral and run the house. She wanted to help her friend and had a great idea. Taking a chance on gofundme.com before Resnick set up a page asking people for money to help Rone and the triplets (they will be going into their senior year at South Brunswick High School.) The goal was to raise $15,000 dollars, but thanks to the love of family and friends in one month Resnick has raised over $20,000 dollars. Rone could not believe it. “The support has been unbelievable, unmeasurable and so appreciated. The money is such a help, we were not prepared, he was a 50 year old man, who expected anything so soon in our lives; there were so many dreams to still happen.” Rone said.

Another amazing sign of support for Rone and the triplets were the 700 people who attended Chuck’s wake. “We warned DeMarco’s Funeral Home there may be a number of people but I never thought. You know that you do what you can to help others or in the schools you lend a hand and you know that you meet a lot of people but to see so many come give a hug, say a kind word, give a loving smile on a horrible day, just makes your heart fill with indescribable emotion. We messed up traffic in four towns, I think we owe some big apologies.” says Rone. When she asked Resnick why there were so many people there, Resnick simply sated “You are always out doing or helping, you are the first one on every door step so now people are here for you.” Wanting to give back, Rone had the flowers from the service broken down into bunches at home and given to nursing homes and friends as a way of saying thank you.

Rone is incredibly touched by the support from not only Resnick, but by several others who have reached out to her and her family in this very difficult time. Rone stated that “Between my job at Rutgers Athletics, who, like a team has given me so much support and encouragement, Chuck’s employer Bloomberg Financial, who still considers us part of the family, and our friends, I have been able to take a deep breath and keep things going.” I list only a few but the list was long and her tears were real. Thanks to: Her mom/grandma and dad/grandpa, sister Amy Klinghoffer, The Resnick Family, Kim Bunch, Julie Mercurio, Ilyse Hahn, Nicole Conforti, The Kainer Family, Carol Desmond, Lauren Thigpen, Patti Notorianni, Tracey Weingarten, Ilene Pawlak & Family who were among the many people to reach out in some way to help Heidi, Kaitlyn, Jared and Courtney. “Thank you just isn’t enough to say” said Rone.