150 take part in Scott’s Fun Run
WEST MILFORD. Fifth annual event helps raise awareness of addiction and mental health issues.
| 17 May 2023 | 03:29
SF1 Participants in Scott’s Fun Run follow the course set up at the West Milford Recreation Center on Saturday, May 13. (Photos by Kathy Shwiff)
SF2 About 150 people took part in the fifth annual Scott’s Fun Run on Saturday, May 13 in West Milford.
SF3 Kelly Williams of Hewitt helps her granddaughters write messages on the butterfly-shaped paper. Zuri Walker, 4, left, and her cousin Tayvionna Williams, 6, were running for Tayvionna’s mother, Jasmine Mann.
SF4 Charlene Pappas, founder of Scott’s Fun Run, speaks to the crowd before the run begins. The run is in memory of her boyfriend, Scott Stalbaum, who died of a drug overdose in 2018.
The crowd poses for a group photo before the run begins.
Representatives of Surfside in Ventnor City had a table at the event. Scott Stalbaum went there for rehab.
Participants wrote the names of people for whom they were running and messages on a posterboard.
SF5 Volunteers from West Milford High School help set up for the event early Saturday morning.
West Milford Councilwoman Marilyn Lichtenberg, left, and school board member Debbie O’Brien were at the West Milford Municipal Allance’s table.
About 150 people - the biggest crowd yet - took part in the fifth annual Scott’s Fun Run on Saturday morning, May 13 at the West Milford Recreation Center.
The event - sponsored by the Highlands Family Success Center, Stigma Free and the West Milford Municipal Alliance - is in memory of Scott Stalbaum, a 2005 graduate of West Milford High School who died of a drug overdose in 2018.
The run was started by Stalbaum’s girlfriend, Charlene Pappas, after she learned that people treat the death of someone from an overdose different from a death from another cause.
”That was something that I wasn’t prepared for,” she said. “I made it my personal mission to make sure that not only was Scott remembered but it’s not lost on me that we are not the only family to lose somebody to addiction and that we’re not the only people to love somebody with an addiction.”
The free event is meant to be a place where it’s OK to talk about addiction.
”I’m proud of this event,” Pappas said. “I think that the conversation in our community is open now.
”We’re trying to remember as many people as possible. It started with Scott but it’s grown to remember as many people as possible.”
New this year
Pappas said this was the first year that the run was held on a Saturday in the second week of May. In the past, it was held on the third Sunday in May.
Participants could write the names of loved ones and messages on butterfly-shaped paper and paste it on a big posterboard.
There also were games, such as corn hole, set up for the first time.
”We just want everyone to come and have a good time,” she said.
The West Milford Elks cooked hot dogs after participants walked or ran the course outlined with orange cones.
Five times around the track was about five kilometers, Pappas said.
Many organizations, such as Hope One, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, JAG-ONE Physical Therapy, West Milford PBA, West Milford Fire Department and West Milford First Aid Squad, set up tables with information.
When she addressed the crowd before the start of the run, Pappas pointed out representatives of Surfside, a men’s addiction recovery program in Ventnor City. Stalbaum had been sober for six months before his death after going through the Surfside program.
Proceeds from the run will go to a fund that provides scholarships there.
”There are so many moving parts and volunteers to make this event successful,” she said. “I’m extremely grateful to live in such a supportive community. It’s a true team effort.”
Kathy Morrison, a building monitor at the Recreation Center, was at the event for the first time. She plans to return, saying the purpose of Scott’s Fun Run is important.
”It’s very important that parents are aware of these services. ... Just grabbing something off a table, bringing it home might help someday.”
We’re trying to remember as many people as possible. It started with Scott but it’s grown to remember as many people as possible.” - Charlene Pappas, founder, Scott’s Fun Run